Radiant Fabrications
by DreadedCliff
Summary: Axel, Roxas, and even Demyx, wake up on a new world that should make them feel at ease. What's causing them to not feel at ease are the questions plagueing their minds. Why is Roxas back and no longer with Sora? How did Axel and Demyx suddely come back to
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Yah...I think I fixed all of the italics. If I didn't, meh appologies, yo.

Complete Summary:  
Axel, Roxas, and even Demyx, wake up on a new world that should make them feel at ease. What's causing them to not feel at ease are the questions plagueing their minds. Why is Roxas back and no longer with Sora? How did Axel and Demyx suddely come back to existance? These questions remain unanswered and to add to the stress, fainting spells strike the trio. Not only that, a mysterious figure dressed as a member of the Organization appears and takes Roxas. Naturally, Axel chases after this figure and Demyx comes along but an unexpected turn leaves Demyx and Roxas on a different world without answers or Axel.

Well, for those who have never read the story before, I hope you enjoy. For those who clicked on the link to read it on this here site, I hope you enjoy n.n Oh, and there will be no pairings. If there are, it won't be between any Nobodies. Hopefully ya'll enjoy anyways n.n

**Disclaimer:** No ownership on Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.

**Radiant Fabrications**

III**  
Chapter One  
**III

His arms ached from the weight that kept them dangling over the cliff's edge. He stared into two pairs of blue eyes; one pair vibrant, the other glassy. His feet were burning for he had forced them into the ground so they wouldn't all fall over the edge. Both pairs of hands were clinging but he could feel them both slipping. All three faces had gone pale with worry and fear. Their fear had reached a much higher magnitude because for the first time, in a very long time, they felt fear.

"Axel," Roxas and Demyx spoke at the same time, the white of their eyes seemed almost indistinguishable compared their paled skin. "Only one of us is going to make it." Roxas gave Axel the saddest smile he had ever seen. He could feel his throat constrict. "That's why…"

"I'll do it." Demyx and Roxas said this at the exact same time. They didn't acknowledge one another. They had simply let go at the same time.

"No!" Axel bolted up. He blinked. He looked around. He was in his room. The fuzzy blanket he had been using had been kicked off the bed. Nervous green eyes darted about the room to reassure himself that he was in his room. He sighed and fell back into the pillows. Axel's breathing slowed a little before he decided to get up. He was sweating a little from the dream, not from the heat. It was almost summer and it felt like it was ninety degrees. Axel really didn't mind the heat much. Personally, he would have preferred sleeping in longs sleeves and pants but he only received half the wish; he was stuck with a white tank top and gray sweatpants.

Living where they did now, they had to do their best to fit in and wearing long sleeves during the summer was not a normal thing and would cause people to wonder; it was something he had to constantly remind himself. Axel stretched and decided he needed something drink. Preferably a hot drink, too. Walking down the hall, through the small living room and walked into the kitchen, flicking on the light switch.

A soft light filled the room.

Axel opened the cupboard and pulled out a mug. He placed it under the faucet and filled it with water. He then turned to the small microwave-like object and opened it. He placed it the cup in and pressed a few buttons after closing the small door. Axel sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. The nightmares were becoming rather frequent these days. He opened up another cupboard and pulled out a small box filled with teabags. Picking mint hibiscus, Axel waited for the microwave to finish heating the water. When the microwave was done, a blue light flashed.

Opening the microwave again, Axel placed the teabag into the cup and shut the door before heading for the table. Again, he sighed while pulling out a chair and taking a seat. He just sat for a few seconds, blinking and thinking of nothing. Once he had decided that the tea had diffused far enough into the water, he pulled out the teabag and didn't bother blowing on it before taking a sip. His eyes were closed as he sipped so he didn't know that Demyx had walked in.

"Axel?"

He jumped and spat the tea out.

Demyx gave him a weak smile and snorted a little. "I thought you didn't have to worry about finals."

Axel coughed a little before wiping his mouth. "I don't. I had a nightmare," he was half proud of the fact, half hating it.

Demyx's eyebrows rose as he pulled out a chair and took a seat across from him. "A nightmare," he repeated.

"Yah." Axel set the cup down. "It's weird, isn't it?"

"What? The emotions?"

Axel nodded. "Weird, huh? We actually have emotions. Do you even remember—"

"No." Demyx replied with a little irritation. "You've asked me before. We wound up on this world and suddenly had emotions. Real ones." Demyx's most common emotion at the present time was irritation. He was so unused to school that he was getting very snappy with the finals lurking around the corner.

Axel sighed. He didn't know how to explain it. He, still adjusting to the emotions, was very thankful to have emotions again but where they came from was unsettling. Along with the fact that…

"It's more than that. What bugs me is we still don't have hearts." Axel was holding the mug.

Demyx rolled his eyes. "I'm just glad we have real emotions. I'll worry about lacking the heart later." He suddenly sighed and ran his hand over his face. "Speaking of nightmares…"

Axel looked up.

"Really weird too; I keep having this one. I was on the edge of some cliff while you and Roxas were hanging onto me when you guys realized that one of you would have to drop in order to save me and the other but then you guys both let go at the same time. Then I woke up."

Axel noticed that the dream seemed to have startled Demyx a little since he was also sweating just a bit. Or it was the heat. Axel couldn't tell. Around the beginning, when they first awoke on this world, Axel didn't really care for Demyx. He, personally, wanted Demyx gone and away for trying to harm Roxas but in the end, Roxas said they should let him stay with them. Roxas knew Demyx had tried attacking Sora and considered both he and Axel traitors but said it felt wrong to leave Demyx alone in this strange world.

It had been a few months since they appeared and Axel and Roxas were starting to get close with Demyx. Axel looked up at Demyx. "I had a similar dream." He stated. "Many times, too." He added.

Demyx looked up. "Really?"

"Yah…" he suddenly felt odd. "But it was you and Roxas dangling over the cliff instead."

"Hmm," Demyx thought for a moment. He was about to speak when they heard somebody walking down the hall.

"Is there some late-night studying going on?" Roxas asked, yawning a little. He was still in his regular day clothes since he had fallen asleep studying.

Demyx chucked slightly, "Sure your face didn't leave any indents in the book?"

Roxas gave him a not-so serious glare. He rubbed his neck and decided to join Axel and Demyx at the table. "I don't need to know how triangles are similar. It's not going to help me pay bills or stab Heartless."

Axel smiled a little at his friend's reasoning. "And if you fail, you'll be stuck in summer school."

Roxas cringed. "What time is it?"

Demyx looked at the small clock that hung over the fridge. "It's three in the morning."

Roxas groaned and let his head hit the table with a very dull thud.

"Don't worry," Demyx said with some cheer in his voice, "You fell asleep with your face planted in that book. I'm sure you've subconsciously memorized the whole thing through osmosis or whatever."

Roxas lifted his head a little. "Thanks," he said dryly. "Actually, I think I'll try to get some sleep. Who knows? Maybe I will pass." He got up and headed for his room, "Night," he carelessly waved his hand before disappearing in the dark hall.

Axel looked at Demyx, "What about you? Haven't you been studying?"

Demyx shrugged, "Yah. I've studied. I think I'll do fine."

Axel cocked an eyebrow. "And this is where I get worried." He looked down at his tea. "Want to finish it? It's too cold for my liking."

Demyx shrugged, "Sure. I don't think I'll be getting to sleep any time soon." He took the mug and sipped. "Gah! You think this is too cold?"

"I fought with fire in long, black robes. You get used to the heat." Axel replied with a careless shrug. Demyx rolled his eyes before setting the mug down deciding that it could cool down for another couple minutes.

The two sat there for a nearly silent minute, the only thing breaking the silence was the ticking of the clock and a dog barking in the distance. "It's kind of sad, isn't it?" Demyx began.

"What is?" Axel asked.

"The nightmares; I hate them but I love them. I mean," he paused for a second, "I hate having that feeling of fear but I love it because I'm feeling it but those are one of the few things I feel when I go to sleep. I've tried avoiding sleep a few times," he admitted, feeling somewhat embarrassed, "with studying but then I'd fall asleep in class."

Axel remembered the calls he received at work when the teachers complained about Demyx falling asleep in class. "Yah, I remember those calls." Demyx had never told him the real reason of why he was falling asleep. He just blamed it on "being so happy to feel happiness" and would stay up listening to music.

"Yah, that's why. I don't remember dreaming so…do all people have nightmares all the time? I've heard people talk about some "good dreams" but I just wonder if it's normal." Demyx stopped. He suddenly felt weird for sharing this information with one of the traitors of the Organization.

Axel thought for a minute.

Demyx unconsciously sipped the now cooled tea.

"Maybe we're making up for the lost nightmares we would've had before we became nothing." He then added: "I'm sure when we're done with the nightmares we'll get those "good dreams" everybody talks about."

"Maybe…" Demyx had drained half of the mug in a few seconds. "I think I'll go back to sleep. Or listen to music. Whichever. Night. Morning. Whichever." He got up from the table and headed back to the room he and Roxas shared.

Axel watched him leave. He glanced at the clock. It was three 'o nine. iI really should get some sleep./i He hated work but the pay was good and it's what kept the three of them in the small house. Axel had a boring job of working at some office for some company he couldn't remember the name of. He didn't really care either. All he had to do was copy stuff, print it, shred the old, and other boring tasks of copying and shredding. He stood up and stretched. "I hope Martin's sick." He muttered this before heading to his own room.

"Roxas, wake up." Demyx shook Roxas.

"Huh?" Roxas blinked and yawned.

"C'mon, get up. It's six forty-five."

Roxas groaned. He sat up and stretched. "I hate school." He muttered. It was Monday and the last week. He couldn't wait until Friday. "School starts too early." Roxas added.

Demyx nodded, "Yah. I'll go see if I can make breakfast without burning anything." He headed out of the room leaving Roxas to sit and tiredly blink.

Roxas rubbed his eyes and got up, heading for the dressers. Opening the top drawer, he randomly pulled out articles of clothing. He didn't like school much so he cared very little of how he dressed. School wasn't the same without Hayner, Pence and Olette; so he only hung out with Demyx. Slipping out of the clothes he fell asleep in, Roxas slipped on a pair of blue jeans and a dark blue t-shirt with a white line across the chest. He kept his wristband and rings.

Walking into the kitchen it seemed that Demyx cheated and pulled out bowls and chose to have cereal instead. "What?" He wore an innocent expression. "See? I didn't burn anything."

Roxas snorted and grabbed a box of cereal, "true." He poured some into his bowl.

Demyx, like Roxas, didn't care too much for how he dressed at school. Today he had randomly pulled out a black t-shirt and a pair of baggy black jeans. "School starts earlier and ends later today." He sighed after swallowing.

"Don't remind me." Roxas muttered. School was going to start at 7:30 and end around 4:00 that day and the next. iI liked my old school more./i He thought, iAt least they knew how to space testing there./i

Axel walked into the kitchen. Demyx had to bite his lip so he wouldn't start laughing. Even though the three of them had been living under the same roof for about five months now, it was still very hard to not laugh when seeing Axel in a business suit.

"You better not laugh." He warned before taking a seat.

Demyx managed to mask the laughter with coughing.

Axel turned to Roxas. "Ready for the exams?"

"Sure," Roxas didn't sound at all convincing.

Axel smiled a little, "All right, you guys get home around four today, right?"

"Yup," both Demyx and Roxas answered in unison.

"All right," Axel nodded. This meant the two would be home without him for roughly one hour. He looked at the clock. "I should probably get going," he sighed. "See you guys later." Axel got up and grabbed his briefcase and slipped into his shoes just before stepping outside.

"Think we should probably start heading for school?" Roxas asked after Axel shut the door.

"Sure," Demyx picked up his bowl and set it in the sink. "Have you finished reading that "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"?"

"Yah. Go ahead. The views of magic here are really different. Not at all like what it is in the other worlds."

Roxas had eaten as much of the cereal as he could, not so hungry because of the exams. "Wow. I've fought Heartless and Nobodies and I'm worried about some stupid exam."

Demyx smirked a little and said: "It's only an exam that'll affect your whole entire future."

Roxas stuck his tongue out as he put away the cereal boxes.

They headed to their near-empty room. Most of the books and CDs they had were in from the library. The few that weren't were gifts that Axel received from work for being such a "model worker." Since Roxas and Demyx refused to make friends at their new school, they were usually reading. Roxas only read to pass time and so did Demyx since he couldn't afford a guitar or use his sitar.

"Do we have the second book?" Roxas asked, looking for his backpack.

"I don't know," Demyx replied, grabbing his blue backpack and took the first Harry Potter book and put it in. "Have you seen my CD player?"

"It's on the desk," he said while placing in some other books into his backpack. "The nice thing about this being the last week of school is no more homework." They were returning the textbooks today.

"You got that right. Oh hey, found the second book." Demyx handed Roxas the "Chamber of Secrets."

"Thanks," Roxas took the book and put it in his backpack. They were favored visitors of the library. Losing a book wouldn't look so good on the record. "All right, let's go."

Demyx followed Roxas out of the room and through the living room to the front door. Roxas and Demyx were about to grab their skateboards but realized that it was still a little early. "Want to shock everybody and walk for once?" Demyx asked.

"Sounds like fun," Roxas said with a slight smirk. They stepped out into the hot summer morning to see the neat rows of small houses on both sides of the street. There wasn't a single car on the road. The world they had appeared on reminded Roxas of Twilight Town because of the heavy use of trains. These narrow streets were meant only for bikes and skateboards and rollerblades. "You have your keys, right?"

Demyx reached into his pockets. "Yah," he shut the door and bolted it. "You?" Roxas nodded.

With that, they headed down the street to school. It was a fifteen minute walk, which meant Demyx and Roxas would have time to talk each other. "Think Kelp's group will leave us alone today?" Roxas asked for a conversation starter.

"Do you think Kiza's group will stop stalking us?" Demyx asked as the answer.

Roxas shook his head, "No."

Kelp was the name of a highly arrogant jock who couldn't understand why such great and strong athletes like Demyx and Roxas wouldn't want to be on any sport teams. He didn't seem to be capable of comprehending the fact that the two had said "no" to sports. Then Kiza's group stalked them relentlessly. It vaguely reminded Roxas of some comic that Olette had read; something about a basket and fruit. Kiza's group figured that if Roxas or Demyx would not date any of them, they had come to a twisted conclusion that if the two weren't brothers, they'd make a perfect couple.

"Exactly. Kiza is just plain creepy and Kelp is a jerk who needs to think of a better nickname." Demyx stated.

"I guess," Roxas said with a shrug. "If we didn't say we were brothers, I'm sure Kiza and her friends would be trying to play matchmaker with us. I guess it's a good thing we can't summon the Keyblade or sitar." He said with some humor.

"Yah, yah…" Demyx wished that his sitar hadn't been reduced to a small charm that he wore around his neck. Roxas' Keyblades and Axel's chakrams had also been reduced to the same fate. "I sometimes wish there were some Heartless to thrash around," he muttered. They had to be careful when they spoke in public. Axel had pointed out that if the three of them had somehow come back, it was possible the other members of the Organization had come back and once they were found, it was curtains for the three even if Demyx did nothing to betray the Organization.

"Well there aren't any. All we have is this boring world. We could do some exploring this summer, though."

"Maybe."

"There might be a beach…" Roxas added

This seemed to have cheered Demyx up a little. "Let's just hope Kiza or Kelp won't be there."

The two continued to talk about what they would hopefully do during the summer until they had arrived at school. The conversation came to a close because they feared Kiza would overhear them. Roxas looked at the giant clock on the school front. "We have about twenty minutes to kill."

"Then we might as well head to our classes. See yah, Roxas."

"Oh. Uh, see yah, Demyx." Roxas said as he watched Demyx head off into the school. _Is it just me or have Axel and Demyx acting weird lately? Oh, god...I hope this isn't some sort of thing where I'm hooked up to a computer system again. If that's true, I'm going to break something or somebody_. The thoughts boiled in his mind as he headed up the stairs of the school and onto the second story where his class was.

Axel's wish had not come true. Martin was not sick today. This then meant that he was stuck with his cubicle buddy._ What time is it now? Only ten? Oh, jeez. Another two hours with this annoyingly icky guy_. He thought with much annoyance as he printed up another report he had just fixed. He despised Martin because he would never shut-up, was an obnoxious jerk, and never minded his own business. What annoyed Axel was whenever he'd put up a new picture of he, Roxas, and Demyx, Martin was always there to critique it. _If I didn't have the feeling or guilt or regret, this guy's throat would be on the floor._

Martin noticed that Axel was now tacking another picture to his cubicle. This one was of Roxas and Demyx making faces at the camera. "Don't you already have on like that? You do have other photos than just that one, right?" Martin asked just as Axel was about to add it to the photo collection.

"Huh? Oh," he blinked and decided to go along with it. "Well what do you know, I do!" He kept his back to Martin as his face twisted into high annoyance but his voice had formed into an overly-gushing form of thanking. "I really don't know what I'd do without you." He removed the tack and put the photo back into his briefcase. He didn't really have one like it but Martin seemed too thick to know. He figured the one Martin was referring to was the one of him, Roxas, and Demyx making faces at the camera. He had a copy of that one at home and it was a very special one, actually. The other two also had a copy of it (It was the first photo they had taken on this world and it was when they were celebrating the fact that they could actually feel emotions).

Martin just smiled and returned to his work. "Oh, I thought you'd also like to know that I've been hearing the boss talk about your hair again."

_Uh-oh. This can't be good._ Axel thought with some sarcasm. It was true, the boss wasn't too happy with Axel's hair. This was the reason why he wore a suit. The other people in the business only had to wear a decent pair of pants, a nice shirt, and a tie. It was either cut off the hair or wear a suit. Axel hated both ends of the deal. "What'd he say?"

"He says it seems to be getting a little too long and that you might want to cut off a couple inches."

Axel held a crimson lock of hair between his forefinger and thumb and rolled his eyes upwards. He restrained himself from saying anything. Truth was he had just gotten it cut a week ago. He normally cut his hair every few months and it was the first time since he had come to this world. "Well, thanks for the heads-up." Axel said._ I should probably go job hunting now just in case the big man decides to drop me. Well, I might get a warning, actually. He's always said I'm a model worker and would hate to see me go._ He was about to open up another file when another worker walked in. "Axel?"

Axel looked up to see it was Ieta who had walked in. She had long blonde hair in a simple ponytail with two locks of hair hanging loose on the right side. "Here," she handed him a slip of paper, "Boss wants to see you." She said.

"Ah. Thanks," Axel took the paper.

"Good luck, man." Martin said as Axel and Ieta walked out of the cubicle.

"What do you think it is this time?" She asked with a small smile.

"I don't know," he said with a shrug, looking over the blue slip of paper. He was trying to ignore the fact that Ieta, who was quite a few inches shorter, was staring up at him with a little tinge in her cheeks. "Well, I'll see yah later." He said to her, heading to the left as she headed to the right.

"Bye," Ieta chirped and almost crashed into Kirk who was carrying a large stack of papers.

"Oh, boy…" Axel muttered. He knew that Ieta had a big-time crush on him but he wasn't attracted to her at all. _Come to think of it…I think that's the only emotion I don't have. Well, I guess. Wait, I do love Roxas as a brother and maybe even Demyx but I wouldn't know if that counts. Wow…I remember as a Nobody, love was the emotion you missed the most but also the first to go._Axel was so lost in his thoughts, before he knew it, he had already arrived in front of the door to his boss's office. He knocked on the door.

"Ah, come in, Axel."

Axel figured the boss knew it was he because of his hair. He stepped in. "You wanted to see me, sir?" I_'m treating this guy like Xemnas. Wow. I hope he doesn't order me to kidnap anybody._ He mused this and stepped in.

Roxas frowned. _By which method is this triangle proved similar? SAS? SSS? ASA? AAA_? Roxas would have easily been able to figure this out if he had only known where to start. He could remember the many times he messed up when told it was not one but the other. He randomly picked one and glanced at the clock. It was only 10:15. Roxas had another few hours of testing and only 45 more minutes left for his math part of the exam. He was a little more than half-way through the math test. He wondered how Demyx was doing. Demyx was in fact rather smart but since he didn't hang out with Axel or Roxas when they were in the Organization, there was a lot they didn't know about him.

_He's probably finished it and writing more song lyrics now._ Roxas thought as he continued with his testing. One thing he was thankful for was the ten minute breaks in-between each test. He couldn't leave the class and talk to Demyx but he could at least give his brain a break. _Thank god. These are easy supplementary questions now._ Roxas continued with the test. He was down to five minutes and seven more problems. _Uh-oh…_the last three looked pretty hard but he would have to try.

His five minutes were now up and he had just answered the last question. "Please pass up your pencils or pens." The teacher ordered. Roxas handed his pencil to the girl who sat in front of him. The pencils were then followed by the test papers.

"So, Roxas," one of the boys he sat next to turned to look at him, "What'd you think of that test?"

"Huh? Oh, it was okay, I guess." He shrugged and was already heading for his backpack for something to do.

"Whoever wants something to eat, take it now." The teacher announced, pulling out a couple of boxes.

"Want something, Roxas?"

"Sure, whatever." He wasn't paying attention; he was more concerned about finding his book. _I swear I put it in here! And I didn't bump into any weird people on the way to school…_Roxas guessed if he had a heart, he would feel it elevate slightly. He began to frantically flip through the notebooks in the backpack. "Phew…" he had found the book. It was at the very bottom of his cavernos pack.

"Here yah go, Roxas." Roxas looked up. It was Nero. He was holding two little bottles of juice and some sort of snack.

"What? Oh. Thanks." Roxas hadn't been paying attention to Nero when he had been offering to get him the food.

"Which test are we taking next?"

"Uh…" Roxas thought for a moment. "I think a reading comprehension one is next."

"Hmm…" Nero thought for a moment. "I guess I'll do fine on that one. How do you think you'll do? You're library record's better than mine."

"I don't know," Roxas said with a shrug. "There's really only one way to find out."

Demyx was scribbling on a piece of paper. Half way through his test he had thought of a song. It was a very nice and pretty song. Somebody was hovering over his shoulder as he scribbled it down. ""Hollow Bastion"?"

Demyx almost jumped. He looked up. "Yah. What about it?"

"That's a weird title."

It was one of Kelp's cronies. "So? Got a problem with that?"

Lo, the one bothering Demyx, was about to reply but the teacher interrupted the two. "Testing will begin shortly."

Lo decided to head back to his desk. Demyx smirked. _That's right. Cower in fear before my might! Well, nice thing about this world is the people here are easier to fight._ He had gotten into only one fight. Fortunately it wasn't at school but, instead, being jumped on the way home. He continued to scribble down lyrics until the teacher announced it was now time for the test.

Demyx put away the lyrics and was given a test paper. He didn't like reading comprehension too much. He just liked reading the book and going onto the next one and not be bombarded with questions that kept on demanding who did what and why. He thought it was rather pointless.

"You may begin." The teacher announced after handing out booklets with the stories they would be tested on.

Demyx opened up the booklet and began to read but he realized that he couldn't read the page. The words were blurry and he suddenly felt light-headed. He blinked and shook his head. His vision snapped back together. _Weird…_he thought before continuing with the test.

Axel was back in his cubicle, typing up another report in need of editing. The boss had wanted to talk to him about a possible promotion. _Anything to get out of this cramped hellhole they call work space._ He was always thinking this as he continued to type away. He glanced at the clock. Just a couple more minutes and he'd be free for his lunch break. He had forgotten to bring his own lunch so that meant he'd probably have to go to a nearby café. Finishing up the report, he clicked "print."

Just in time, the lunch break had started. "Okay, I'll be back in a bit." Axel picked up his briefcase and got up and exited out of the cubicle to nearly crash into Ieta. "Oh—sorry."

"No, that's okay." She chirped. "I was just heading out for my lunch break."

"Oh, uh, what a coincidence, I was too." Axel regretted that sentence the moment it fell out of his mouth.

"Really? Where to? They have a new café that's really close so you don't have to worry about being late."

Axel couldn't say no to that deal without sounding stupid. "Sure," he said, hoping he kept the strain out of his voice.

"So," she began as they headed for the elevator, "I heard you might be getting promoted."

"Yah," Axel replied, "to be an assistant-secretary, I think."

"Really?" Ieta managed to keep the squeak out of her voice.

"Uh-huh," Axel nodded. He bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying "Got it memorized?"

"So," her face was starting to turn pinkish. "Uh…how are Roxas and Demyx?" According to all who knew them, Roxas and Demyx were brothers and the younger cousins of Axel and he was taking care of them because their parents had died in a train accident (they would have said murder but this world seemed too peaceful for something that violent).

"They're doing fine," Axel was really hoping that he could escape this girl now. He always felt awkward around anybody who showed signs of interest in him. _Oh, great. She's the secretary. I'm being promoted to secretary's assistant. I don't like where this is going._He thought as they stepped into the elevator. _Why didn't I get that memorized_? He asked himself with much humor but the question had a splash of self-scolding in it.

"It must be hard raising your younger cousins," she commented thoughtfully.

"It's not that hard," he said with a shrug. He was trying to keep the conversation smooth and not make it sound like he was desperate to escape.

"Well, that's always good." She said with a smile.

Axel gripped his briefcase, hoping something would happen to not make him have to spend time with Ieta. _I don't blame her for liking me_, he mused, _and who could deny such great looks._

The elevator doors slid open to allow people in or out. Axel and Ieta walked out of the office building and towards the café that was right next to the office building. "I heard they make really great tea," she began, "And they have really good baked goods."

_Tea's always good. Great…she knows exactly what I like. This won't make it any easier and here I am feeling guilty. Wow. Guilt. That's a new one. I guess this is what I get for wanting my emotions back._ They entered the café, apparently Ieta had been talking. "Hmm?"

"Do you want a seat outside or inside?"

"Oh. Outside's fine." It was a nice day and he didn't enjoy the loud chatter of the people inside the café. _The Organization was always quieter…_he thought as they took a seat outside.

A waitress handed them each a menu. "Don't forget to look at the teas of the day," she added before walking off.

Ieta looked over the menu of teas. "I think I'll be getting…pineapple waves. What about you?"

Axel scanned over the menu, hoping it had mint hibiscus. It did. "I guess mint hibiscus."

"Ooh, that's a good one." Ieta said in her usual chirp. "Hmm…I think I'll get soup. What about you?"

"A sandwich." Axel was already praying for the lunch break to end.

Roxas and Demyx met up with each other in front of the school. Testing was over for them. Apparently not everybody had to stick around until four, as long as they weren't freshmen. "All right! We're out with an extra hour to spare." Roxas was happy to be out of the classroom. "I guess I don't have to dread school tomorrow, either. We'll be getting out around this time too, hopefully."

"Uh-huh," Demyx nodded as they started to head home. Students were slowly trickling out of the school building depending on when they had finished the test. "When we get home, I'm sleeping. I've been dizzy all morning."

Roxas looked at him with some concern. "That's not good," he stated.

"No really?" Demyx chuckled a little. "Good thing there's no homework."

"Uh-huh. Did you write any more lyrics?"

"Yah," Demyx reached into his pocket and handed Roxas a few sheets of folded paper. Roxas read over them as they walked home, trusting Demyx to let him know when to stop or if he was about to crash into anything. They arrived home and Roxas had just finished reading the lyrics. "Wow. The Hollow Bastion one seems to be the most depressing one of them all."

Demyx slipped the key into the door and unlocked it. "Well, that is where I faded away." He said once they were inside. "All right, I'm going to sleep." Demyx headed for their room but didn't exactly make it. His vision was starting to get blurry again and he was feeling lightheaded. "Uh…Roxas…" he leaned against the wall and his left hand was heading for his head as if lightly touching it would make things all better.

"Yah—Demyx!" Roxas darted to Demyx.

Demyx was about to collapse onto the ground but Roxas caught him and eased him down so he was now sitting. "Hang on a second, I'll go call Axel." Roxas said.

Demyx couldn't reply to well for he was starting to slip away from consciousness.

Roxas grabbed the phone and quickly dialed Axel's work number. He didn't like disturbing Axel while he was working but Axel said that if anything out of the ordinary happened, he wanted them to call right away. _Well,_ Roxas thought, _I'd hope suddenly fainting is considered "out of the ordinary."_

"Hello?" Axel picked up the phone. He sounded annoyed.

"Hey, Axel?"

"Roxas?" Axel's tone jumped from annoyance to concern. "What's the matter?"

"Uh, well, Demyx kind of fainted—"

"I'll be right there." With that, Axel hung up.

Roxas hung up and walked over to Demyx. He knelt down and decided he should place him somewhere more comfortable than the floor. Doing his best to lift Demyx up without dropping him, Roxas managed to drag him to their room and placed him on the bed. Roxas frowned. Something seemed unnatural about this, he didn't know what was telling him that, but he just knew Demyx wasn't sick.

III**  
End of Chapter One  
**III

A/N. Whoo! There it is! First chapta! Hope you enjoyed :3


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Like, w00t. Next chapter, yo. n.n Sooo...lemme just say, ZOMG thanks for all the comments you guys, it does mean muches to me :3 I hope you will enjoy the next chapter! What do I has to say? Er...teh plot thickens. Also, I want to appologize for apparent choppyness in chapter one. FanFiction. net here deleted the plus signs I used as dividers in scenes, so I sorrys n.n;;

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Axel, he'd be in tears. ...So would Roxas and Demyx now that I think about it...right, right...Square Enix owns all that is Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. Fallout Boy owns all that is their song _Dance, Dance_. So, no ownership for me ;o;

**III  
Chapter Two  
III**

Roxas watched over Demyx with his arms folded across his chest. He knew he couldn't do anything, he had no medical skills and it probably wouldn't have mattered since they were Nobodies and chances of a Nobody's body being similar to a Human's were slim. Roxas had waited for about twenty minutes when he heard the door open and then shut.

Axel rushed into the room, "Has he said anything?"

"Uh-uh," Roxas shook his head. "When we were walking home he said he had been feeling dizzy and his vision had gotten blurry earlier in school but that was it."

Axel frowned and set aside his briefcase. "Did he say anything else?"

Roxas shook his head. "…Axel," he had been debating about this question.

"What?" Axel looked up.

"Demyx isn't going to fade away…is he?"

Axel thought for a moment or two. He finally answered with a near-exhausted sigh. "I don't know. I've asked for the rest of the day off because of this, so we'll just have to wait and see."

Roxas stiffly nodded. He didn't want to lose anymore of his friends. "Were those signs when you faded away?"

Axel was about to answer but then paused. "I don't remember." He finally said. "I'll go change, stay here incase anything happens."

Roxas gave another nod before Axel left the room.

Once he was in his room, Axel opened a dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved brown shirt with a thick blue stripe across the chest. He quickly changed and returned to Roxas and Demyx's room. Before he could ask, Roxas shook his head and said: "Nothing."

"Well," Axel began, "Then I guess we could go into the living room or kitchen. Demyx probably won't do anything except sleep."

"Yah, probably," Roxas followed him out of the room and into the kitchen. Roxas took his usual seat on the table, which was with his back to the living room, and sighed. "Something doesn't feel right about this."

Axel took his usual seat, facing the sink, and cocked his head to the side a little. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. He was acting normal and just suddenly fainted."

"Have you been feeling dizzy or sick lately?"

"No," Roxas shook his head. "Have you?"

"Nope," he replied. "Only times I've felt sick were when Martin tried talking to me."

Roxas bit his lip so he wouldn't laugh too loudly. "Oh yah, anything happen at work?"

"Well, I might get a promotion. Boss just said I had to dye my hair a different color or gel it down." He cringed at the thought of either.

Roxas, on the other hand, thought it was downright hilarious.

Axel's face twitched with some anger. "Laugh all you want. I'm going to find away around it."

"Yah, but not before I find a camera."

"You're not getting any photos. Got it memorized?" He tapped his left temple.

"Nope," he stuck his tongue out and was preparing to push himself back incase Axel decided to swat him aside the head.

"Got what memorized?" Demyx staggered into the kitchen. "Axel? What are you doing home so early?"

"You fainted," Axel answered. "Roxas called me. Are you feeling any better?"

"Ah. Uh…yah thanks." Demyx took the remaining seat; his back to the fridge. "So I fainted?"

"Uh-huh," Axel and Roxas nodded at the same time.

"Anything else?"

"Yes. You admitted your undying love for Kelp." Roxas answered, doing his best to keep a straight face.

"Be happy I'm too tired to do anything about that comment," growled Demyx. "So, anything happen at work today?"

"I'm getting a promotion and the boss said I have to either dye my hair or gel it down."

Demyx snickered at the thought of Axel with neat and tidy hair. "You'd look better dying it. Oh yah, what are you getting promoted to?"

"…I get to be the secretary's assistant."

"Wait, isn't the secretary at work Ieta; the one who has a crush on you?" Demyx asked.

"Yah." Axel was clearly unpleased.

Demyx laughed and put his voice into falsetto, "_Oh, Axel, could you get me some coffee? Thanks. Oh, we need to talk about the boss's schedule. Is it okay with you if we have the meeting around five-thirty at _Le Tiger Lily_ and then go over to y_—OW"

"If you're well enough to humiliate yourself with that voice then you're well enough to take a kick in the shins."

Demyx was about to make a one-fingered gesture but Axel spoke before he could. "All right, school's out at the end of this week and I'll get a two-week vacation a week after that. So, what do you guys want to do for the two weeks I have off?"

"Go to the beach," Roxas and Demyx said in near unison.

"All right, I guess we could do that." Axel said, nodding slightly. "I'll just make sure Ieta doesn't plan on going to the beach, too."

Roxas and Demyx stifled their laughter. "What are we going to do now?" Demyx asked.

"I don't think we can go out for sea-salt ice-cream today since everybody at work is expecting me to be here helping my supposedly dying cousin," Axel answered.

"You said I was dying?" Demyx cocked an eyebrow in amusement.

"I didn't say that…"

"Then what did you say?"

"Something among the lines of severe trauma reoccurring and fear you may go catatonic again if you don't have your living relatives around you to tell you everything's all right."

"Oh great, if I ever go there they'll be treating me like some overly-emotional guy who'll burst into tears at the mention of 'train crash.'"

"Worth a try on working up the acting skills, they do come in handy." Axel put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.

Demyx managed to prevent a frown from forming on his face._ Right…I've always wanted to be a traitor._ Demyx thought crossly. Clearly, he was still touché about Axel and Roxas betraying the Organization. "I think me and Roxas get enough practice when trying to avoid Kiza and Kelp." His vision suddenly blurred again. He lurched and clutched onto the table.

Axel and Roxas made a move to help Demyx but he held his hand up. "I'm fine, really. I'll just go and lie down again." He shakily got up from the table.

"Sure you don't need help?" Roxas asked, getting up as well.

"Nah," Demyx managed to stagger back to his and Roxas' room. As he flopped back onto his bed, he hoped that he wasn't going to receive anymore nightmares

* * *

Friday arrived quickly and Axel was reluctant to let Demyx go to school after he had fainted again half way through Thursday. He and Roxas were currently walking to school. "Sure you're okay?"

"Yes," Demyx snapped, "I'm fine. Quit bothering me, all right? I should be the one asking you, anyway."

Roxas glared at the ground.

"I'm surprised Axel didn't stay in the room for the rest of the night," Demyx added.

Half way through the night, Demyx woke up because Roxas had been thrashing around so violently in his sleep he managed to knock down the chair by their desk. Axel rushed in a moment later and woke Roxas up. "So, what was so horrifying? Kiza tried kissing you?"

Roxas made a slight grunt signifying 'no.'

"Okay then, what?" He stopped and removed his hands from his pockets.

Roxas stopped too. He looked around and saw that the only person who was outside was a man in his boxers and a shirt watering the lawn. "I'll tell you after school when we meet up with Axel during his lunch break."

Demyx rolled his eyes figuring it was useless to argue.

* * *

"A-Axel?" Ieta almost crashed into Kirk. Kirk was about to snap at her but stopped when he saw Axel. 

Axel had used half a tube of gel to slick his hair back. It was not an out-of-control mess but in fact very nice and smooth to the point it looked like he had slopped on some red paint except for the slight bulge around his scalp. "Morning, Ieta," he said through gritted teeth.

"I-I hear you start as an assistant secretary today."

"Yup," he was heading to his now old cubicle to pack up his things.

"Oh! How's Demyx? Is he all right?" Ieta snapped out of her shock of the gelled-back Axel.

"He's fine," Axel stepped into the cubicle. _Speaking of Demyx, I hope he wasn't predicting the future or anything with that Ieta imitation._

"Oh, hey, Axel." Martin looked up. His thin eyebrows rose. "Did you get a haircut?"

Axel managed to not slap his forehead. "We can go with that," he walked over to his desk and started to remove the pictures from the wall and a few other things in his desk area. He didn't have the most decorated workspace, so it only took a few minutes.

"I'll show you the way," Ieta, as usual, chirped, and led him through the maze of cubicles to the office they would be sharing. "You'll like it in your new job. The office will be much bigger and you'll probably get a longer lunch break. Oh, and more vacations, too."

"Really?" That got Axel's attention.

"Mm-hmm." She nodded. Axel, as usual, ignored the tinge in her cheeks. "Oh, and when you're done I have an assignment for you."

"All right," Axel figured it'd be the same things he normally did but probably a little more running around and less sitting in front of a computer screen, which was one of the few plusses to the promotion.

* * *

Roxas' eyes darted to the clock. He was going to have to wait a few hours before he and Demyx could meet up with Axel. The wait was annoying and the fact that he wasn't feeling too good didn't make it any easier. The dream he had disturbed him and now he had a stomachache and a headache. "Roxas, you all right?" Nero cocked his head to the side a little. 

"I'm fine," Roxas waved his hand carelessly. "Really." He went back to his book, wishing for it to be noon already and not eight forty-five.

"All right," Nero said with a shrug.

Roxas returned to his book as he heard some girls gasp. He shoved it aside and continued reading until a hand reached out and grabbed the book. "Hey—Demyx?"

"Yah, we really need to talk, c'mon."

"Uh, okay…how'd you—"

"I said that I wasn't feeling well," he dragged Roxas out of the classroom.

"All right," Demyx shut the door, blocking out the whispers. "Roxas, just to get this off my mind, did your dream by any chance involve a cliff that had a drop that seemed to go on forever? Or involved me and Axel?"

"Well…there wasn't a cliff or anything like that and I don't think you guys were in it. Is this why you dragged me out of class?"

"That was the original idea buuut something else kind of happened on the way here."

"What?"

Demyx looked around before reaching into his pocket and pulled out a folded note. "Some person dressed like a member of the Organization gave this to me. I couldn't tell if they were a boy or a girl." He added.

Roxas' eyebrows rose in shock and then knitted together as he took the note. He unfolded it. The first thing that got his attention was the picture of the water lily at the bottom of the note. Then his vibrant eyes drifted to the message on the note:

_"The light may burn strong but soon it will waver."_

"…Did this person smell like smoke or something?" Roxas kept the slight shaking out of his voice.

Demyx took the note. "Hahaha, very funny." He said sarcastically. "No. But they were in the Organization get-up," he looked around again. He didn't see anybody. "Think we should call Axel?"

Roxas thought for a few seconds but then shook his head. "No. He just got a promotion and he'd freak out if we bother him about this now. Also, we'll be seeing him in a few hours. I don't think he wants to be disturbed right now. He might get demoted if he has to leave work again."

Demyx nodded in agreement. "I guess you're right…" he was about to ask Roxas what his dream was again but knew he wouldn't get an answer. "All right, see you in a few hours. Come straight to me if you—"

"I'm not that stupid," Roxas cut him off but he was smiling. "See yah later." He stepped back into the room.

Demyx stood there in the hall for a few seconds before heading back to his classroom. He had pulled out the note again and was reading it over and over. There was something unsettling about that note. This is, of course, setting aside the fact that a supposed member of the Organization gave him the note. _The Organization's gone. We're what's left. Well, I should probably say I'm the one that's left. But I guess I'd be considered a traitor at this point._ Demyx let out a sigh, _and I can't forget that Axel and Roxas did let me stay with them, so I guess I'd be a traitor either way I go._ He walked up the stairs lost in thought. _I just wish I knew what that guy—or girl—wanted. Why me? Why not Roxas or Axel? Maybe I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time._

Demyx opened the door to his classroom and stepped in. "Feeling better, Demyx?" The teacher asked.

"Huh? Oh, yah." He nodded.

"Good," a girl named Mia chirped, "Cuz Till brought some homemade sweets. You know you wanna try them!"

Demyx became aware of the smell of cookies. _Oh, great. My one weakness. Well, next to rap.. _He shrugged, "Sure." Mia handed him a cookie.

"Oh, meet us after school. We know how much Roxas would want some"

Demyx absent-mindedly nodded and walked off to sit on the counter in the corner. I_ hope Roxas doesn't bump into that person. It could be bad news for him if he does.  
_

* * *

Roxas walked down the hall. He wanted to get away from his loud classroom and he needed a drink of water. The images from his dream haunted him and drifted in and out of his mind. Roxas located the water fountain; just as he was about to twist the knob to release the water, he felt somebody tap his shoulder. He turned around to see who it was. 

"Hey, Roxas, is everything all right with Demyx?" It was Till, Mia's cousin.

"Yah, why?"

"Well, he did faint the other day and he left for the nurse's office. But he came back," she added quickly.

"Oh. Okay…" _You came down a floor just to ask me if Demyx was all right? _He prevented himself from asking the question. _I'd be touched if I had a heart._ Roxas couldn't help musing that little thought.

"Oh, and Mia wanted me to give these to you while they were still fresh instead of after school and I'm sure you guys have better things to do." Till handed him a folded napkin with cookies. "You know how she is with Demyx and everybody he knows," she added, rolling her eyes. "Well, see yah later, Roxas." She turned around and walked off.

"Uh, thanks," Roxas said and looked down at the cookies. He figured he should probably save one for Axel. Putting them in one of his many pockets, Roxas leaned over and twisted the knob on the water fountain. Cold, refreshing water went down his throat and it seemed to have made things a little better. He returned to his classroom and sat down on a table in the back. He pulled out one of the cookies and began to eat it while watching some of his classmates play a card game.

After a few very long and boring hours, Roxas was now free to leave. Heading outside, he waited under the giant oak tree for Demyx. "Hey, Demyx." Roxas waved to Demyx as he quickly dashed down the stairs.

"Hey, Roxas." Demyx nodded his head, "C'mon, Axel said he'd meet us at the old café."

Roxas nodded and said as they weaved through the thick crowds of cheering students. "I hope Axel's boss took a picture of his hair like that. He's got the best costume for Halloween Town."

Demyx smiled weakly, "Yah"

Roxas frowned. "The cloaked person didn't come back, did they?"

Demyx shook his head. "No but I've been reading that note ever since I got back to the class and the more I read it, the more it freaked me out." He frowned, "And I don't know why."

"Well, why'd you keep reading it?" Roxas half-snapped.

"Still enjoying the emotions, duh," Demyx answered with another weak smile.

Roxas shook his head and rolled his eyes. The walk to the old café was only a few minutes away from the school. They reached in before Axel and had to wait another ten minutes. "Hey, guys," Axel arrived with his hair dripping wet. "The boss said he preferred my hair out of control instead of gelled down." He said to Demyx and Roxas when noticing the slight surprise and disappointment in their eyes. "Oh, and no photos," he added.

"Aww…"

They walked into the café to be greeted by a cheerful looking man, "Outside or inside?"

"Outside." It was louder outside than inside and that meant they were less likely to be over-heard.

"Right this way, sirs." The man led them to a little table outside in a shaded corner with a giant hedge to the left. He handed the three of them menus and dashed off to greet other customers.

"All right," Axel looked Roxas in the eye, "You were—"

"Actually," Roxas interrupted him, "Demyx has something important to say."

Axel's eyebrows rose. "Really?" He looked at Demyx, "This should be interesting."

Demyx sighed and reached into his pocket, muttering under his breath. "All right—"

"Oh, hi, Demyx! Hi, Roxas!" Kiza was wearing the café's uniform.

_Oh, crap._ Roxas and Demyx thought while attempting to not make eye-contact with her.

"What would you three like to drink?" She asked in her usual overly-cheerful voice.

The three quickly looked at the drink specials and hastily made the orders; Roxas and Demyx purposely picking ones they didn't like too much. "So, what were you saying?" Axel asked.

Demyx sighed, trying to think of how to say what he needed to say. "Well," he lowered his voice a little; Roxas wondered how Axel would react to the news. "We think I was contacted by somebody from the Organization."

"What?" Axel barely managed to keep a leash on his voice. A few people looked up from their conversations, staring at Axel. "What?"

The ones who looked up shrugged and returned to their conversations.

He looked up back at Roxas and Demyx. "What did you just say? Are you serious? Oh, great…I knew they'd come back—"

"This person was different; they didn't give off the same Nobody vibes. Also, I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl." Demyx was trying to think of away to calm Axel down. _Wow…seriously helpful, that one, Demyx._

"And the note didn't match the handwriting of any of the old members," Roxas added quickly, remembering the note.

"There was a note?" Axel's eyes widened. "Why didn't you show me in the first place? Give me the note," he held his hand out.

Demyx handed him the note.

Axel unfolded it. His eyes blazed over the short sentence. "Crap. You don't think its Marluxia, do you? No, wait, he might've looked like a girl and had a feminine looking weapon but his handwriting wasn't this neat or curly." Axel continued to study the note. His mouth formed a frown.

Kiza came by and passed out their drinks. "All right, ready to order?"

"Another few minutes," Demyx said to her as Roxas took a sip of his drink, hiding a cringe. Once she walked off, Demyx and Roxas looked at each other. "Trade?"

"Yah," they switched their drinks. "I hope she's too thick to notice."

"Or we could mess with her head," Demyx said with a smirk.

Axel noticed his drink and almost gulped half of it down.

"Well?" Demyx looked at Axel hopefully. Roxas silently sipped his lemonade.

"If it really is somebody from the Organization who wrote this…Marluxia and Zexion might be teaming up. Or even Saix." Axel said after a moment. "But why aren't they coming after Roxas or trying to kill me? Not that I'm complaining," he hastily added. He looked up at Roxas to see he was swirling the lemonade around with his straw. He then glanced at Demyx to see he was doing the same with his kiwi drink. "Since we can't do much with this note, Roxas, what was your dream about?" He asked, finally getting to what he originally had in mind for a conversation.

Roxas sighed and was about to speak when Kiza returned. Wanting to get rid of her as fast as possible, they gave their orders and, luckily, she didn't notice the drink switch between Demyx and Roxas. "All right," he looked up at both Demyx and Axel. "I know what happened to Sora."

Axel and Demyx stared at Roxas.

"…Yah." He pushed his lemonade aside. "And I guess you could say the note's related to the dream because around the end of the dream it was raining lilies."

Axel and Demyx exchanged glances.

Roxas figured he should continue. "Anyway, in the dream, Sora turned himself into a Heartless and I could hear Kairi and Riku telling me—or him—to run as far as I could. I saw myself running and, I don't know, it was starting to get really blurry and I think I saw this lady extracting Namine from Kairi and she was doing something to Sora's Heartless."

"But…what about me and Demyx?" Axel asked, "That doesn't explain what happened to us or why we came back."

Roxas shrugged. "I don't know. The dream started with what looked like Riku swimming to something from something in the ocean and Kairi was starting a fire. Yah, I know, it was really weird." He gave an extremely weak smile to Demyx and Axel. "Maybe that's what brought you guys back; the others using your elements." He ran his hand through his hair, "God that dream was weird…"

Axel reached a hand out and patted Roxas on the shoulder. "Maybe that's what really happened or maybe it isn't but for now we're fine. We probably should start thinking of what to do incase they come back."

Demyx nodded in agreement, shoving aside the small voice in his head pointing out that, as usual, Axel was showing more concern for Roxas. "But you're not going to let us wander around alone now, are you?"

"Yup. You guys aren't going to go anywhere alone except for the bathroom but that's it. You two have to stick together now. Got it memorized?"

"Yes sir," Demyx and Roxas said, trying to keep themselves from laughing; they always thought it was funny when Axel said 'Got it memorized?'

"Good," he relaxed a little.

"But what about you," asked Roxas.

"I'll do fine." He answered coolly

Demyx and Roxas exchanged skeptic looks._ He's probably asking me and Roxas to stick together so I could possibly play as the shield. Or he actually wants me to live and knows my fighting's not the best and is hoping Roxas could help protect me._ The thoughts raced through his mind. "Let's change the subject," he said, "You never know, they might return." 'They' was referring to the rest of the Organization.

Axel and Roxas nodded in agreement. Kiza returned with what they ordered, "Enjoy your meal," she said in her usual happy voice, "And see you guys next year." Her voice sounded extremely cheerful at the thought of seeing Roxas and Demyx in school again. She walked off towards another table to take more orders.

Once they had finished their lunch, Demyx and Roxas waved good-bye to Axel as he headed back for work and Demyx and Roxas headed home to collect their library books. "Oh, c'mon, Roxas, it's not that bad. Maybe you just need to stop reading right before bed." Demyx said in an attempt to cheer Roxas up.

"Thanks," Roxas looked up at Demyx, "but it's not working." He sighed. "Let's start thinking about what movies we'll get from the library and how late we can stay up."

Demyx smiled, "Now we're talking."

The two continued talking about which movies they would get for this week and they had managed to narrow it down to action movies, horror movies, action movies, and possibly an anime movie. "I don't know," Demyx slipped the key into the lock, "Anime is okay but the whole entire thing with the heads getting big when yelling gets kind of annoying."

"I think its funny," Roxas followed him in.

"I think Olette poisoned your mind," he tapped Roxas' head. "Hear that? It's bouncing off something…that something is…wait; let me listen!" He tapped Roxas' head again. "I hear heads inflating and those inflated heads getting hit with mallets," he said melodramatically.

Roxas batted Demyx's hand away. "Hahaha, very funny." He said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "There was one that Olette always wanted to see," he walked down the hallway to their room. He grabbed his backpack and started to collect library books. "Are you going to help? We have a whole lot of books."

"All right," Demyx lifted a shirt from the floor and found some books. "Found two. Have you read these ones yet?"

"Yah," Roxas said after looking over his shoulder. He returned to the books on the shelves. "All right, I got all the ones from the shelf. How many others do we have to return?"

"Four and I found them," Demyx put four more books into the backpack. "I think we should put some of those in my backpack."

Roxas shrugged, "All right," he unzipped the backpack and handed eight books to Demyx. "Okay, let's go."

* * *

Axel was now walking home from work. His hair was now dry and stuck out like it usually did. _Maybe I should've taken a train…_he thought, dragging his feet on the sidewalk. His vision began to blur. _Oh, great. _He nearly tripped over his own feet.

About fifty feet away, Demyx and Roxas were sitting in a tree. "Hey, isn't that Axel?" Demyx nodded his head in Axel's direction, sea-salt ice-cream still in his mouth.

"Huh?" Roxas looked up to see an exhausted looking Axel. He had finished off his ice-cream and dropped the stick into a trashcan by the tree. "Yah, he doesn't look so good." Roxas jumped off the tree.

"Wait up," Demyx hopped off the tree as well and threw away his ice-cream stick.

"Hey, Axel! Are you all right?"

"Huh?" Axel looked up. He saw one Demyx and one Roxas and then three of each. "Not really," he started to sway a little.

Roxas rushed to his friend's aid and supported him, "Demyx, how far are we from home?"

"About ten minutes," he glanced around. They were starting to attract stares.

"All right," Roxas nodded and started to walk towards home.

"Need help?" Demyx asked, feeling as useless as ever.

"No, that's all right." Roxas replied, trying to not show he was having some difficulty.

"Its okay, Roxas, I think I can walk," Axel attempted at straightening up and taking a step but he stumbled after the first few. Demyx caught him this time. "Okay…I can't."

"C'mon, let's just get you home," Roxas said.

"Yah, yah…" Axel looked a little annoyed but mostly sick. His face had gone pale and a thin layer of sweat was forming.

They arrived at their house twenty minutes later instead of ten. "You brought your key, right Roxas?"

"Yah," Roxas reached into his pocket and pulled his key out. He slipped it into the bolt and then the knob. He opened the door and let Demyx and Axel in first. Roxas followed them in and shut the door behind him. "I'll go get some water." He headed off into the kitchen.

Demyx carried Axel down the hall to the second door, which was Axel's room. "What happened?" He asked while opening the door.

"I don't know," Axel replied, "I felt tired but decided to walk home anyway. Next thing I knew my vision was blurring up and I felt ready to faint."

"Ah. Why do I get the feeling this is contagious?" Demyx muttered before carefully setting Axel down on his bed. "Need anything?"

"Here," Roxas walked in and handed Axel the glass of water.

Axel took the glass and leaned against the wall, "Thanks." He started to drink the water but something made him spit it out. "Crap!"

"Huh?" Demyx and Roxas turned their heads to see a tall, cloaked figure.

Since they were in the comfort of their own home, Demyx and Roxas figured it was safe to draw their weapons for the first time in a while. "Uhh…why aren't my Keyblades appearing?" Roxas looked down at his empty hands. Demyx's sitar hadn't appeared either

"Uhhh…" both turned to look at Axel. He had dropped the glass and attempted to stand but failed. Along with that, is hands were empty.

No sound came but the way the figure was moving, the person was laughing. It then waved its finger as if scolding the three. It then reached into its pocket and pulled out another paper. This time it was held out towards Roxas. "Me?"

It nodded.

"Roxas, I know you're not that brain dead," Demyx looked at the note and then Roxas. "I'll get it—"

The figure shook its head. Looking at Roxas and then the note, it shrugged and faded away, leaving behind a note.

After a moment of silence…

"Why didn't our weapons appear?" Demanded Demyx, ignoring the note. "And what's with this guy coming and going without any powers of darkness?"

"I don't know," Roxas said with a shrug. "Maybe we forgot how to summon them?"

"I hope not…but whoever it was wanted to be noticed." Demyx and Roxas hadn't noticed that Axel had managed to get up and pick the note up. "Oh great, another riddle."

_"The dance of destiny is soon to change its melody."_

"Wait, what are you doing—," Demyx looked back and forth to where Axel had been resting and to where he was standing, "…Never mind."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roxas groaned.

"Who knows? Whatever—" Axel froze.

"What?" Demyx and Roxas asked in unison.

"Demyx, can I see the other note?"

"Uh, sure," he reached into his pocket and handed Axel the note. "Why?"

"You two go to another room." He ordered, ignoring the question.

"Uh…all right. C'mon, Roxas." Demyx turned to Roxas.

Roxas had wandered over to Axel and was looking over his shoulder. "What? All right…"

**III**  
**End of Chapter Two**  
**III**

A/N: And thus ends chapter two n.n


	3. Chapter 3

Nya...sorry it took me so long you guys! I have a bunch of'm written up just nearly forgot about this place...this is the second site it's on n.n;;

Enjoy :3

**KH and FF (c) Square Enix**

III

**Chapter Three**

III

The two sat in the kitchen. Demyx was drumming his fingers on the table and Roxas sat on the counter. "What do you think?" Demyx asked.

"About what?" Roxas looked up from his feet.

"Our weapons." Demyx stopped drumming the table. "Do you think this world did something to them?" He held the little sitar charm between his thumb and forefinger.

Roxas looked down at his necklace. The Oblivion and Oathkeeper charms hung limply like the littler ornaments they had come to. "Maybe…" he sighed. His eyes suddenly widened, "Wait…can't you still use yours?"

Demyx's cheeks suddenly reddened. "Yah, well, sort of, but I doubt it would've worked; I haven't done it under stress yet."

Roxas shrugged, "So? It's worth a shot. You could give it a try now. I'm sure you're still stressed out over what just happened."

Demyx smiled sheepishly. "I'll feel guilty if it works."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "C'mon! Let's see if it works. What's the point of having emotions if you don't use them? And what if he comes back?" Roxas decided to call the figure a "he." "You're not going to let that big-bad-man get me and Axel, are you?" He gave Demyx the puppy-dog look in an attempt to look innocent.

Demyx sighed. "Fine…we have nothing else to do and you never know. All right, what kind of water?"

"Hmm…the one I walked in on." Roxas said with a slight smile.

Demyx's eyes narrowed. "I hate you." He said and then closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Taking a deep breath, "_"Dance, dance,"_" a small puddle began to form in front of Demyx as he sang, "_"we're fallin' apart to half ti—"_" the puddle began to bubble but stopped after a few seconds. "Damn."

"It was floating around your head last time," Roxas frowned. "I guess you could practice again later today." He hopped off the counter and grabbed a few paper towels.

Seizing the chance to change subjects, Demyx said: "Speaking of practice, that's what you'll be doing tonight with cooking."

"What? It's my turn all ready?" Roxas looked up as he began to clean up the puddle.

"Uh-huh," Demyx nodded, smirking. "I suggest something easy and not heat-sensitive."

"Axel liked it," Roxas protested, standing up.

"Axel likes anything that's been set on fire."

"That's not true," Axel walked in, still in his suit. "I don't like my ice-cream on fire."

Demyx and Roxas looked up. "So what was that all about?"

"What was what all about?" Axel took a seat. "…All right, I'll tell you; just stop giving me those looks." He paused, "But not now."

"What? Why not?" The two demanded angrily.

"Because I don't know how to explain it," he replied. _And I couldn't get much out of it,_ either, he added silently in his mind.

Roxas and Demyx rolled their eyes.

"Fine," Roxas tossed the paper towels into the trash.

Axel shifted in his seat slightly before switching to a different subject. "By the way, since when did we get a radio?" Axel looked from Roxas to Demyx.

Roxas did his best to stifle his laughter. He did a better job at it compared to Demyx's attempt at not blushing.

Roxas looked into the pot. "Uh…guys?"

"What?" Axel and Demyx looked up from the movie they were watching.

"I think it's ready."

"Smells safe…" Axel said, pausing the movie and getting up.

"That's an improvement." Demyx muttered, causing Axel to snort.

"Hahaha," Roxas laughed sarcastically and grabbed three bowls. "Try to guess the secret ingredient." He filled the bowls with vegetable udon and then placed the bowls on the table. "I'll give you a hint. It starts with an 'A' and there's an 'E' and it ends with—"

"I'm not poison," Axel interrupted.

Demyx nearly choked on his udon. "That was horrible and you deserved to be shot for it."

Axel smiled and was about to eat when a note floated down. His smile melted away. His hand shot out and caught the note. "Too bad Xigbar isn't here."" He read the note aloud to Demyx and Roxas as they leaned over to read the note. It was in neat and curly writing.

"Uh-oh…" the three looked up.

The hooded figure waved.

They snapped into fighting positions. Demyx looked at his sitar-less hands. "….No weapons. Again."

"Use the chopsticks, then." Axel's hand shot for his chopsticks.

The figure looked like it was laughing again. Once it finished laughing, it held a hand up and Roxas went flying towards it. "Oof!" He landed into its outstretched arm, nearly knocking the wind out of him. It wrapped that arm around his waist and brought him close to itself.

Roxas was now a shield.

Axel swore. If he could see its face he'd see a thin lips pulled back into a cruel grin.

"What do you want?" Demyx asked, not wanting to fight and, of course, get answers.

The figure tapped Roxas on the head.

Roxas did not appreciate that, so he slammed his head into his captor's chest.

It hadn't expected that. The simple blow gave Roxas enough time to break free. He spun around and sent a kick into the stomach of his enemy before running to Axel and Demyx. "She's got an iron grip," he said, rubbing his arm.

""She"?" Demyx and Axel looked back at the figure.

"Yes," she finally spoke, "I'm a girl. Obviously this wasn't as easy as I thought. No matter, I'm only after Roxas. You two, I have no idea how you came back. So, this probably means its okay to kill you boys." Her voice sounded like a waterfall of glass. Her expression suddenly changed, "Actually, I want Roxas to suffer first." She held her hand out again. It was Axel and Demyx who were drawn to her now at break neck speed. She stepped aside and allowed Demyx to keep going and hit the couch. Some unfriendly cracks were heard.

"Demyx!" Roxas took a step forward but a stifled grunt from Axel stopped him. "Let him go!"

She allowed her laugh to be heard this time. It reminded the three of breaking bones. "Do you honestly think I'm going to do something regretful as that?" Axel let out a yell of pain as she increased the grip on his arm and since it was twisted, the grip didn't ease much pain. "You don't have your Keyblades, so what can you do to me?"

Roxas could only glare and bare his teeth.

"So you're going to be a nice little boy and come with me or let me break his arm or worse? I wouldn't mind that actually because if I change my mind and let them live, we could play hide-n-seek and I just love that game." She paused, awaiting Roxas' response. "…Or I could just let them die and then take you. Hmm…if could also torture all three—"

"All right!" Roxas yelled, "I'll go! Let got of Axel and I'll come."

"Okay," she pushed Axel to the side right into the wall. "Hey, you never said I couldn't do further harm. Now, c'mon before I change my mind." She held out her hand.

Roxas stiffly walked over to her. He took her hand and applied as much pressure as possible.

"Been eating your spinach, huh?" She smirked as a door of darkness appeared and surrounded them, taking them to a place only she knew of.

It was just after that moment when Axel pushed himself from the ground into a sitting position. "Oh man, my head." He reached out to touch it. "Ow!" His arm was rather sore. "My arm! That—" he looked around, remembering what just happened. "Roxas?"

Axel received no response.

"Damn!" He slammed his fist onto the ground. "Ow!" It was the hand on the injured arm. "That stupid bitch kidnapped Roxas," he stood up and gently rubbed his arm. "I can't believe I lost him again," he sighed, heading for the kitchen where the first-aid kit was. "Gre—"

"Ah! Sonofa…!"

Axel jumped and looked down. He had stepped onto Demyx's arm, which looked to be in a very odd angle. Axel was in disbelief that he forgot about his friend. "Demyx, are you all right?" He knelt down.

Demyx had been thrown into the couch and managed to topple over it and land half-way on the floor. "Gahhh…what do you think? I think my arm's broken." With the way he landed, Axel did not need to prop him up against the couch. Demyx tried to lift himself up but he let out a yell of pain and his uninjured arm twitched towards his ribs. "And I think a few ribs too…"

Axel frowned. "I think that's going to need a hi-potion at the very least."

Demyx's eyes widened. "Oh, god no." He shook his head but that seemed to trigger pain.

"We'll see what we've got." Axel walked into the kitchen and opened the cupboard next to the fridge. First thing's first. Help Demyx and then worry my head-off about Roxas. Axel rummaged through the cupboard with only one hand and much difficulty. He pulled it out and returned to Demyx. "All right…" he flipped open the box and pulled out a small slip of paper. "Sorry, Demyx, but it says to take an X-potion for broken bones."

Demyx groaned. "What about Roxas? Is he all ri…" he trailed off. "That bitch!" He slammed his uninjured fist on the ground. "Ahh—! Not smooth…." The move effected his broken ribs.

Axel rolled his eyes, "Here." He handed Demyx a small, plastic vial filled with a blue liquid. "We can't do anything useful for Roxas if you don't drink it."

Demyx rolled his eyes. "I was going to drink it any way." He took the vial. "Uhh…Axel?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry." He took the little vial and unscrewed the cap. "Why the heck do they make these with screw-off tops?" He asked, unscrewing a plastic vial with red-orange liquid for himself; a hi-potion.

"I guess the people here don't expect to be attacked, so it isn't a freakish emergency." Demyx sniffed it. "Guh…bottoms-up." Demyx would have pinched his nose but he only had one functional arm.

Axel and Demyx then put the vials to their lips and braced themselves for the relentless flavor of bitterness of the healing wounds from battle. Like a fall of lava, the burning tonic poured down their throats in search of damaged parts. Struggling to prevent it from coming up, the two managed to swallow the drink. "I hate this stuff." Demyx gagged and wiped his mouth.

"Same here…" Axel sighed. "Go get some rest. I'll see if I can find a way to find Roxas."

"Uh-uh," he shook his head. "You can't expect me to sleep while my friend's been kidnapped by some crazy lady, do you?"

"You have broken ribs." Axel said flatly.

Demyx knew he was beaten. "…Fine." Demyx was about to lift himself up but Axel stopped him.

"Here, let me help." With a twinge of pain, Axel managed to help Demyx up. "Need any more hel—"

"No, but thanks." Demyx stood up and then fell onto the couch. "Ow!" The hand that wasn't healing raced to his side. "I guess this works too…"

"I guess it would be smarter to rest here incase she comes back."

"Uh-huh…" Demyx nodded. He could already feel the effects of the potion kicking in. He always liked the old potions from the world of the Organization because they'd energize you for the battle; not knock you out for sleep.

"Hang on a sec; I'll get you a pillow."

"Oh, thanks…" Demyx was fine with the way he was but a pillow was always welcome. This feels weird. I know Axel considers me a friend but—wow. I've been a Nobody for so long I can't remember the feelings of friendship…That's just sad.

"Here," Axel returned. "Can you lift your head?"

"What? Oh, yah," Demyx lifted his head a little.

Axel placed the pillow under Demyx' head, "Need anything else?"

"No, but thanks." Demyx could feel his eyelids grow heavy.

Axel too felt drowsy but he had to find away to get Roxas back. If only I still had the powers of darkness. He walked out of the living room and into the kitchen to put away the box of potions and other helpful items. Leaving the kitchen for his room, Axel hastily rummaged through his dirty clothes pile and found what he wanted. Walking back into the living room, Axel saw that Demyx had already fallen asleep. Axel took a seat with his back against the wall. He opened the black book first.

It was a small book, about the size of a DVD case. The pages were yellowed from time and the ink had become gray. The feathery pages also gave off a slight smell, causing Axel to wonder just how old it was. He then opened up the other book. It wasn't an official book but a thin, red spiral notebook. He was careful to not allow the two notes to fall out of it. The notebook contained information he recorded from the book and anything related to it. Roxas and Demyx knew about the book and it was a little challenging to keep them away from it. Axel didn't know why but he felt like he had to keep the book away from them; at least, for now.

There was something familiar about the book but he wasn't too sure what it was. What had attracted Axel's attention to the book was its cover; the Organization's symbol (but it was not the symbol that brought the feeling of familiarity). Shrugging aside the usual question of "Why is this book so familiar?" he flipped through the book when something caught his attention. It was something he had not noticed before and this surprised him. That was because it was in the corner in recognizable characters, none of this secret code thing in other pages, and in a red ink and not-so neat handwriting. It read "Ill-Trina."

Axel blinked. Where have I heard that before? And why haven't I seen that before?! He looked at the page it was on to make sure he hadn't seen it before; page 26. Oh, maybe that's why I didn't notice. I haven't gotten that far into translating the thing. Axel figured that was a decent reason for not seeing it before but that didn't answer the familiarity of the term. "Whatever…" Axel shook his head, deciding to get back to translating the first page.

Translating this book was no easy task. The code kept changing and it seemed to have no exact pattern when changing. It would be one code for a page and then a different one for three pages then change to another for six pages. "This is so annoying…I've had this thing for a few weeks and I only have the first few sentences translated." But I now have those in a language everybody can read now, he thought, glancing at the notes.

Demyx muttered something in his sleep.

Axel realized he'd have to be quiet or end up waking Demyx, which would impede his progress of translating the book. Demyx was then silent, so Axel continued with translating. Hey, I've seen that one before so that means…"sea" and that letter makes "souls"…wait, that can't be right because there's no such thing as a word like "sucito." Axel frowned; he had worked so hard on those translations. "Screw it…" Axel closed the book and got up. He wasn't going to give up on the book but he felt it was a waste of time to try to continue translating if what he wanted wasn't going to give him straight answers to a way to find Roxas.

Demyx's fingers twitched and he muttered something again.

Axel walked down the hall and carefully opened his door as to not wake Demyx. This time, he had the books under his mattress and placed the pencil on his pillow. "Now—"

"Axel—OW!" It was Demyx.

Axel ran to the living room. Demyx was sitting with a curve in his posture, suggesting that he had sat up suddenly. "Demyx? Are you all right?"

Demyx turned around, ignoring the ache in his side. "Yah. God…another nightmare…"

Axel decided to take a seat next to Demyx. "Another cliff one?"

Demyx shifted a little, so he was facing Axel. "No…this one was really different." He stopped. "Let's talk about it later, we need to find Roxas. Even if we can't find—not another note," he groaned as a little piece of paper floated down from the ceiling. He held his hand out to catch it. "I swear, with all these notes she's giving us you'd think the teacher's would've had it in for her."

Axel ignored the bad joke and looked over Demyx's shoulder. "That's not her handwriting."

"Huh?" They hadn't even read it and could tell it wasn't from the girl who kidnapped Roxas. For one, it wasn't curly and two it wasn't the neatest writing they had seen.

Axel read it out loud. ""Combine the opposites and speak the dead language"? What the..?"

Demyx reread the note. He flipped the paper over to see if there was anything on the other side. There was. ""Suscito"? I think that's Latin."

"Since when did you take Latin?"

"Extra credit for an English assignment."

"Ah." Axel didn't pay too much attention to their homework assignments.

"I think it's talking about Latin. That is a dead language."

"That's helpful." Axel said sarcastically, suddenly realizing something. "Do you know what it means?"

"Uh-uh." Demyx shook his head, almost getting some of his hair into Axel's eyes.

"Give me a second," Axel got all the information he needed. He darted to his room, deciding to forget about hiding the book, and returned to the couch. If he had a heart, it'd be racing, but he didn't, so it wasn't.

"Hey, isn't that—?"

"Yup." Axel flipped it to the first page. "Apparently those symbols mean "suscito.""

Demyx reached over to look at the book. Axel didn't let go of it, so they formed an 'X' with their arms and ended up shoulder-to-shoulder. "Suscito," they both said at the same time, absent-mindedly almost.

A light surrounded them.

"What the!?" Axel jumped, letting go of the book; Demyx did the same.

"What'd you do?" Demyx looked at Axel with very wide eyes.

"Me? I didn't do anything! What'd you do?"

"I didn't do anyth—"

Darkness surrounded them.

Axel's eyes burst open. He would've bolted up but he couldn't. This was due to the fact that there was a metal band wrapped around his chest and around his wrists and ankles. Looking down and seeing with what little light he had, there were two more metal bands around his thighs and small waist. "What the…?" He also noticed what looked like a glassy black-green surface beneath his chair of steel. He looked up to see the same thing a few feet above him. It was a meter across and a pair of wide eyes stared back at him. Axel realized it was his reflection. "Where's Demyx?" He couldn't help but ask the question out loud.

"I'm here."

Axel's head snapped to the left. Demyx was in the same type of restrains as Axel. "Isn't this lovely?" He sarcastically asked and rolled his eyes.

"Yah," Demyx replied with as much sarcasm. Something suddenly occurred to him. "You weren't wearing that a minute ago."

"Huh?" Axel looked down. He didn't notice he was wearing different clothes; being strapped into a metal chair can do that sometimes. Demyx was right, though; Axel had not been wearing black jeans or a black shirt. "You're wearing the same thing I am."

Demyx looked down and moved his ungloved hands. "Weird…did somebody change our clothes?"

"I—hey, you're jeans are dusty! So are mine," Axel had trouble keeping the shock out of his voice.

"Wha—?! What the hell is going on?" The room they were in was only lit by the faint glow of the glass above and below them. The two could see each other clearly, and the thick layer of dust, but they were also only a few feet away from each other, so seeing such things were a little easier.

A smirk suddenly appeared on Axel's face. "I wonder…" he closed his eyes and focused on the chakrams and warmth of fire. The familiar sensation of heat ran through him to the tips of his fingers. Another missed feeling returned; this was the metallic touch of the chakrams. "All right!" An orange light filled the room as tiny flames danced around the tips of his chakrams.

"Whoa!" Demyx jumped within his restraints.

"Hang on; let me see if I can get out." Axel had very little mobility but he could at least try. Slowly and carefully moving the chakrams so he now held them by the outer ring, he flicked his wrists upward and slammed the chakrams down at the chair.

There was a loud clang; then another, and another. Demyx cringed with every hit Axel made. Axel continued to hit the chair until he heard a different sound, a sound of metal screaming as it was torn. "Yes!" He managed to wrench his left hand out of the metal restraint and started to smack his chakrams on the right arm of the chair. "I guess it's a good thing I don't have a heart," he said to Demyx, who was clenching his teeth, after freeing his right hand. "Because this would really hurt." Axel began to do his best at hitting the metal across his chest.

"It still sounds painful," Demyx said between the sounds of metal against metal.

"It sort of is," Grunted Axel. Another five minutes and he managed to get the metal off. Glad to get that off my chest. He then moved onto the metal around his thighs; also being rather careful.

As Axel hacked away at his restraints, Demyx squinted through the gloom. "It's almost like a storage room." He muttered to himself, "and we're dusty…well, the clothes are at least." The storage room feeling and dusty clothes were far from comfort. He remembered Roxas telling him one sleepless night of Twilight Town being an illusion. This made him wonder if the world they had been in was an illusion. "Hey, Axel—"

"Demyx, hold still."

"What? Why—" the two chakrams whirled through the air and made a home at in the restraints by the chest. Demyx angrily responded: "What the f—"

"Hang on," Axel walked up to him and yanked the chakrams out, taking the metal band with it. "Sorry, what were you trying to say?"

"Axel, guess where my foot would be if I liked fighting?"

Axel laughed as he tore the now scrap metal off his weapons. "I won't do that again. Tell me what it is when I get you out."

Fifteen minutes later of hacking away at metal, Demyx was free. He shakily stood up. "Right…" he stumbled forward a little. "I think the town we were in was an illusion.

"Yah," Axel nodded in agreement. "Probably."

"Since that's out of the way," Demyx began, a little surprised that Axel wasn't absolutely shocked, "I'm surprised the noise didn't attract anybody's attention."

"Same here," Axel looked around. "Let's try to find away out."

"All right," Demyx nodded but realized that Axle probably couldn't see him clearly now that they were away from their light source. "Axel, think you could light this place up a little?"

"Sure, close your eyes."

Demyx shut his eyes. When he closed his eyes, he felt the heat of the fire surround him. "Whoa…" he had opened his eyes and could see more of the room. "I guess we were loved."

Above their seats was a sign reading: "DANGER: Handle with extreme caution." Below it was another sign. "If movement occurs, fire at will but do NOT kill."

Both looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

Demyx was about to speak but something caught Axel's attention. "What's that?" He walked over to it, fire still at hand.

Demyx followed him and looked at the giant keyboard with an equally large screen. "Looks like a computer." He reached out and pressed what seemed to be the "on" button.

Nothing happened.

"That was enlightening." Axel said sarcastically. "If the power for this thing isn't working, then that might mean the alarms aren't working. C'mon," Axel jerked his head towards something in the gloom.

"All right…" Demyx followed Axel. "Hey, I think I see a door."

Axel held his hand out and squinted. They could see what looked like an automatic door of some sort. "I can handle th—"

"I'm not a baby," Demyx snapped. He wanted to hold his sitar again. He let his mind reach out for the gentle flow of water until he felt the weight of his beloved instrument. "Yes! Now…what to do about this door." His fingers began to pluck the strings, and before he knew it, a strong wave of water was surging to the door. With a tremendous crash and sound of screeching metal, the door was destroyed and if so, so was anybody whom might have come to check on the two. "Also solves any problems with guards." He gave Axel a prideful smile.

Axel rolled his eyes, "All right, so you've proved you could open a door." He did have a smile on his face. "Now let's go find Roxas."

The two carefully stepped into the room. It too was dark but meters away they could see a thin "H" on its side; it was a set of doors. "You can open that one." Demyx said with a very small smile.

Axel rolled his eyes again, "Just don't trip over anything." They had only taken a few steps when there was a loud crashing noise. "OW!"

"Are you all right?" Demyx's head jerked to the left, which was where he last saw Axel and the fire.

"Yah…just tripped," Axel stood up. He held his hand out and allowed another flame to appear. "Take the smile off your face or I'll do it for you. Got it memorized?" Axel himself had a small smile on his face.

"I'm not smiling." Demyx lied and began to walk again.

"Uh-huh…" Axel walked around what he had tripped over. He looked over his shoulder to see what it was. It was a large lead pipe. "At least it wasn't my own feet," he muttered. "Oh, since we're here now and have nothing else to talk about, what was your nightmare about?"

"Oh…that…" Demyx stopped.

"Well?" Axel looked to the right expecting to see Demyx next to him. He turned around. "What was it?"

Demyx looked up but avoided eye contact with Axel. "It was…" he tried to figure out a way to get of explaining. " I thought I was fading away again." Now that he said it, Demyx realized how easy it was to fabricate a lie. Axel had faded away, so Demyx figured it'd work, such a thing seemed nightmarish enough.

"Oh. But don't you write songs about—"

"I'm not actually feeling it as I write them and it wasn't a memory of fading away; it felt like I really was fading away and the emotions were there, too."

Axel's eyebrows rose. Fading away without the emotions was bad enough but to actually go through it with emotions, Axel chose to not think about it. "It was only a dream."

Demyx shook his head, "Forget about it. It's not a big deal and we need to figure out what's going on."

"All right…" Axel agreed that they needed to find out what was going on but he didn't agree with Demyx dismissing the dream so carelessly.

Walking in complete silence for what seemed like forever, they reached the door. "Ladies first," Axel said smirking and taking a step to the side.

Demyx's hand formed into something but Axel's fire went out and the doors suddenly slid open, blinding the two with light. After a few seconds of being blinded by light, Axel and Demyx blinked to clear out all the spots from their vision. Now we know why the Heartless fear the light… Demyx thought as he looked at Axel, "You all right?"

"Yah," he blinked again, "you?"

"Yah." Axel looked around. "Whoa…" his eyes widened.

"Huh?" Demyx turned to see what Axel was looking at. "Holy…"

They stood in a very tall and long hall. The end of the all was either a wall or door, they couldn't tell but they could see the Organization's symbol from where they stood. But that wasn't what shocked them; what shocked them was what decorated these ever going walls. There were portraits of each member of the Organization. It seemed to have started with Roxas. On the left side was a portrait of him merely standing on what looked like the Oathkeeper's keychain and Oblivion's keychain behind him; other than that, he was surrounded by light. Directly across from the Roxas portrait was another giant portrait of Roxas but he looked angry and ready for battle. Next to the Roxas portraits was a pair of Larxene portraits only lightning was splitting the blackness of her background as she sneered into nothingness.

"Either we have one serious fan or—"

"—We've been found." Axel finished the sentence for Demyx.

Demy sighed, "Been nice knowing you."

"We don't that and if we've been found, we're not going down without a fight, but first, let's see what they want." He knew that if this was where the Organization was, it was rather pointless to try to bargain with them.

Demyx let out a hollow laugh and said nothing except "whatever" before heading down the hall with Axel.

Isn't this great? Axel thought, what's probably a new member of the Organization brought back to life has been sent to kidnap Roxas. I can't wa—Demyx interrupted Axel's thoughts. "Huh?"

"Never—"

"No, what?" They passed by the Luxord portraits.

"…Have you had any other nightmares besides the cliff ones?" Demyx wasn't comfortable with asking this.

"Yah, why? Have you?"

"Did any of them involve a purple haired woman?"

"Some…" he answered slowly. "Why…did yours?"

Demyx replied slowly, "Yah…"

"Well?" They stopped at the Demyx portraits.

Demyx rubbed his back of his neck. "It's just….she seems familiar."

"Maybe she's somebody your other knew," Axel suggested with a shrug. _Maybe that's it…_ after he woke up on the world he and the other two had lived on, the memories of their others, except for Roxas (his were fine up to the point of Destiny Islands), were pretty foggy and cluttered and with the fact that he and Demyx had been hooked up to computers, he had no idea if any of the memories of his other were real.

"I don't think so." Demyx started walking again, "Something says it was after we were Nobodies."

Axel caught up with him. "Maybe…" there was something gnawing at him in the back of his mind. He was about to question Demyx further but then figured it was a pointless. "These dreams could've been things they fed into the computer thing we were hooked up to," Axel announced after some thinking.

"Maybe…" Demyx clearly didn't want to continue the discussion of his dreams. He could feel regret wash over him; regret for lying about his dream to his friend.

Axel sighed and their walk was silent until they reached the end of the hall; a dead end.

"Yup. This really is the new place." Demyx looked up to see the giant symbol tower above them. "Now, how do we get in to face our certain doom?"

A door slid open in front of them.

"That's how," Axel stepped towards the door. "Well see what they want first and then pull out our weapons."

"Yay, fighting," Demyx muttered sarcastically, following Axel. "Hey this place doesn't look so bad…"

The two Nobodies stopped a few feet into the room. The ivory tiles seemed to stretch on forever if it wasn't for some minor details proving this room was not eternal. Tapestries of the Organization's symbol hung all around the walls along with thirteen rugs set up in a circle. "They seem to have chosen something more comfortable this time," commented Axel. In the center of each rug was a chair with Roman numerals on the back. Axel frowned, this was very odd. It seemed like the two, Axel and Demyx, might not be wanted dead after all. He walked over to the chair with his number and hesitantly placed a hand on it to be sure it was real.

Demyx's eyebrows rose and then narrowed. "I don't trust it."

"Good, neither do I." Axel removed his hand from the chair.

"I almost feel sorry for Marluxia." Demyx said when his eyes fell onto the pink chair and recalled the portrait of Marluxia and the thousands of petals painted around him.

"I don't. C'mon, let's see if we can find another door."

"Or three." Demyx said, noticing a silvery spot on the wall in front of them and on the walls to their left and right.

Axel did not know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. "Okay…which way? I choose the middle one."

"I say left."

"Then we go right."

Demyx shrugged. "That works too."

Axel headed for the door, "I hope we find something this time. I'm kind of tired of the pointless rooms."

Demyx smiled slightly. "As long as there isn't a bunch of Heartless in them, I'm fine."

"Only one way to find out," Axel replied once they reached the door. He grabbed the knob and twisted it. It was another hallway; a much shorter one but a hallway none-the-less. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What's with the chicks?" Demyx looked at the portraits; there were seven pairs.

"They're the Seven Princess."

Demyx gave a short nod. "Ah," he couldn't help but feel a little stupid about forgetting them.

"I can actually see the ceiling," Axel said this as they began to walk down the hallway. He didn't need to look directly up in order to see an ivory ceiling. All those poor elephants… Axel mused cruelly. "I don't think we'll have enough energy to fight them if we ever find them with all these halls."

"Don't you just love the word "if"," asked Demyx in false cheer.

Axel didn't answer. They had already reached the door. "All right, this better lead to somewhere worth while."

Before either touched the knob, the door swung open on its own, causing Axel and Demyx to jump back. They both looked at the door then each other and then at the door again. A velvety black curtain hung before them limply. "Who puts a curtain in front of a door?" Demyx looked at Axel.

Axel shrugged. "Let's just go and see what's behind it." He pushed through the thick fabric and disappeared behind it, filled with determination to find Roxas.

"Wait for me," hissed Demyx. He stumbled after Axel and crashed into him. "Oof! Sor—"

"Shh!" Axel hissed. He returned his attention to what was around the corner.

Demyx nodded and quietly looked around the corner via under Axel's elbow, wondering why Axel looked surprised. The room they were looking into was a range of blues. What looked like circles of ice had been stacked on one another forming stairs that lead up to a translucent, dark blue throne-like seat and atop of that seat was a woman with purple hair. Demyx gasped and ducked behind the corner. "Axel," he hissed and tugged at his sleeve.

"What? Is she from your dreams?" Axel asked, guessing that's what Demyx was about to say. He had to admit, he, too, was shocked.

"Yes," he whispered back with wide eyes.

Axel quickly looked around the corner again; she was writing something down and completely oblivious to the intruders. He ducked back behind the corner and whispered: "All right, here's the plan: You send your water clones in to distract her and while she's fighting them, we move in. Got it memorized?" Regardless of the situation, he had to say his trade-mark term and hiding the smile was impossible.

A tiny smile crept onto Demyx's face. "Got it." His hand wrapped around the sitar charm and he spoke the words he missed. "Dance water, dance."

A shriek of surprise told them it worked. Axel's face displayed cruel enjoyment. The chakrams were held tightly in his hands as he leapt out from behind the corner. He found her halfway down the stairs fighting three Demyx clones. This is perfect, he thought. With a mighty swing of his arm, Axel threw the chakram from his right hand towards her.

Her visible eye, the left one, spotted the chakram just in time. She allowed herself to fall back and let the chakram sail over her. "Ah! You bastard," her hair was long and the duck allowed it to become free game. "It took me forever to get my hair that long!" Her voice was drenched with anger.

"_Cry me a river_," Demyx snapped, appearing next to Axel with his sitar in hand. The clones suddenly fused together into a giant wave. The wave towered over her and crashed down on her fragile figure. She tumbled down the staircase and was violently pushed an extra twenty feet to Axel and Demyx.

Axel held his hand out and caught his chakram. He then swung his arm down and held a point an inch above her throat. "This was too easy." Axel then side stepped incase she wanted to kick him it wouldn't connect anywhere that could severely disable him.

As she lay on the floor, the two quickly looked her over. She wore the Organization cloak and its thick cloth clung to her beanpole shape; the plum colored hair had spilled over the wet floor and looked like a nest of snakes. They then noticed an interesting style she had done with her bangs. Over the left side of her face, the ragged and uneven hair barely surpassed the eyebrows, but the right side of her face was almost covered completely by bangs that almost surpassed the nose.

"I think she's the one who took Roxas," Demyx said. He noticed the fast rise and fall of her chest, "And she's still alive.

Thin lips formed a smile, "I sure am." Her gloved hand shot up and pulled back her bangs. A pure black eye stared up at them.

"AH!" Axel and Demyx felt their bodies suddenly go rigid and suddenly relax. The woman rolled to the side and ripped Axel's chakram from his hand as a terrible heat washed over him. This wave was instantly followed by a wave if ice. A small cry of pain escaped their lips as the pain of thousands of needles pierced their skin. Then the relief of darkness and unconsciousness came.

"Axel?"

"Hnn?" Axel forced his heavy lids open. "Wh-what—Roxas?!" Happiness and relief flooded him. Axel tried to get up but he realized his body was too heavy.

"Don't," Roxas placed a hand on Axel's shoulder, "If you keep forcing yourself you'll hurt yourself." His eyes drifted to a corner. "Demyx hasn't woken up yet." Roxas looked back at Axel. "You looked into her right eye, didn't you?"

"Uh-huh," Axel managed to give a slight nod. "You?"

"Yah," Roxas nodded as well.

Axel sighed. "Where are we?"

"Some prison cell. It looks like the ones we used when we were in the Organization."

Axel moved his eyes around to see they were in a pure-white cell. With his peripheral vision, he saw thick, white bars as the only view of the outside world. "Ah." He tried sitting up again. He managed to prop himself up on his elbows and it had taken much energy. "Jeez…how long have I been out?" He wanted to look over his shoulder to see if Demyx was all right but couldn't.

Roxas sat down, "A few hours. I think. Did you guys attack her? She was wet and had a cut on her cheek."

Axel smirked, "Yah that was us."

Roxas smiled back but then frowned. "She seemed really angry." He looked at Demyx again. "I hope she doesn't come back any time soon. It's going to take hours before you can move normally."

"Great," Axel said sarcastically. He sluggishly shook his head. "That doesn't matter now. What about you, are you all right?" He looked Roxas in the eye.

"Yah," he nodded. "You?"

"I will be in a couple of hours." Axel gave his friend a weak smile. "At least we can talk," he made an attempt to shrug.

Roxas smiled again. "If you had woken up five minutes ago, you would have heard Demyx singing."

Axel snorted and lifted his eyebrows slightly. "Really?

"Yah, it was pretty funny."

"Too bad I missed it." Axel tried sitting up completely but almost ended up on his back. "Ow…"

Roxas had Axel. He carefully pulled him back up into a sitting position, "Are you all right?"

"Of course he's all right," A familiar voice cut in. "Hello, boys." The purple haired woman smiled and waved with her free hand, the other was behind her back. "I thought you might be hungry." Her only visible eye sparkled cruelly and her smile reminded Axel and Roxas of a hungry beast. "Here," she tossed in three small bundles of cloth. "The colors go with your elemental powers." Her voice oozed with boredom. She was about to walk off but stopped. "The Melodious Nocturne hasn't woken up yet?"

"Huh? Oh, no." Axel answered with little politeness once he realized she was referring to Demyx.

"Oh. Well, at least make him drink what's in there." She turned around and began to walk off again but Axel called out to her.

"Hey, you know who we are, mind telling us who you are?" Axel asked, wanting at least one answer.

She didn't turn around and continued to walk but there was an answer. "You can call me Maltrina."

III

**End of Chapter Three**

III


	4. Chapter 4

Thought I'd do a double update as an appology XD

**KH and FF (c) Square Enix  
Mysterious person (c) Me  
**

III

**Chapter Four**

III

"Axel?" Roxas looked down at hid friend.

"It's that name…I've heard it before. I feel like I should know who she is. It keeps slipping…I have faint bits of her but…"

"It's like a ripple?" Roxas suggested.

"Yah…it is. You keep trying to get closer but the closer you get, the farther away it becomes."

"Memories haven't been the most reliable things in this universe," Roxas smiled weakly.

"Heh…you got that right." Axel attempted to turn his head to look at Demyx but was still too weak to do so.

Roxas noticed this. "He still hasn't moved."

"Thought so," he sighed. "Oh, yah, so what song was he singing?"

Roxas laughed, "A song I wouldn't expect from—"

"…I watch you fast asleep…" For somebody singing in his sleep, Demyx was still pretty good apparently.

Roxas didn't bother hiding his amusement. "That one."

Axel laughed as well. "Are you serious? That song?"

"Uh-huh." Roxas nodded. His smile faded away as the gravity of their situation set in again. "How are we going to get out of this?"

Axel sighed. He knew that if this prison cell was anything like the ones the Organization once used, calling upon their weapons or powers was pointless. "Whatever it is she gave us, I don't trust it." Axel stated and managed to nod at the little cloth bundle. Roxas looked at them.

"I don't either." Roxas replied, "At least, the blue and red one," he opened up all three of the bundles. In the blue and red bundles of cloth were a couple of golden vials and rice balls. The white bundle lacked golden vials.

"Why those two?"

"She probably wants you guys dead and probably poisoned this stuff." Roxas answered. He picked up a poorly made rice ball and sniffed it. "Yuck!" His face twisted with disgust as he recoiled away from the rice ball. "Even if it isn't poisoned," he set it down, "it's so poorly made eating it would kill you."

Axel chuckled, "Still, it's probably better than what Luxord cooks."

"Uch….I don't think anything could cook worse than him," groaned Roxas.

Axel smirked. "See?"

Roxas picked up a golden vial. He unscrewed the cap and sniffed it as well. "This smells familiar." Axel cocked his head to the side a little. "Here," Roxas held it under Axel's nose.

Axel sniffed, "It smells like mint hibiscus tea."

"Why would she put it in something this small?"

"So the poison wouldn't be tasted?" Axel managed to shrug this time. Roxas raised an eyebrow, wondering why on earth somebody would put tea in such a small vial. Axel must have read his mind. "Don't ask me, she's insane."

"Probably," Roxas shrugged as well. He reached out and picked up the vial from the bundle meant for Demyx. He was about to unscrew the cap when a groan reached his and Axel's ears.

"Ahh, man…wha—why can't I move my arms!?" Demyx's crystal eyes darted around in their sockets in search of answers and his friends.

"Good, you're awake; we don't have to give you whatever's in here." Roxas set the vial down and got up, walking towards Demyx. "Can't move?"

"I just said I can't move my arms, what do you think?"

Roxas' lips twitched into a smile. "All right, hang on." Roxas grabbed Demyx by the arm and managed to lift him up. He then supported Demyx and took him to Axel before setting him down as gently as possible, which did not work and ended with a "thud" and "ow."

"Sorry," Roxas smiled apologetically and sat down.

"All right," Demyx began, "What's going on? Last thing I remember was staring into a black eye."

"Same here." Axel said. "That's what got us paralyzed."

Demyx was tempted to say "No, really?" but instead did his best to nod.

"Maltrina, if that's her real name, probably wants to poison us all." Axel stated as he attempted to get his foot to move.

Roxas examined the white bundle again before something caught his attention. "Hey…I don't remember you guys wearing that when I got kidnapped."

Axel and Demyx groaned slightly. "You just noticed?" Demyx tried sitting up but failed.

Roxas shrugged. "Fashion's always been the least of my worries."

Three hours had passed. By now, Axel and Demyx could walk with an occasional jerk in their step. "I don't think I can run yet." Axel stated as he tripped over his own feet.

"Even if we locked you in a room with Ieta?" Roxas asked with a smile.

"…Maybe."

Roxas and Demyx laughed.

"Aww…you can't run? That'll ruin all the fun games I have planned."

The three jumped.

Maltrina waved. "We're going to play a game," she said in a sickly sweet voice. "But since you two still can't run, I don't know if we can." Her lips formed a frown.

"Oh, whatever shall we do?" Axel muttered sarcastically.

"That's what I asked myself." Her frown became a smile. "Cure."

"Huh?" A warm feeling washed over the three Nobodies.

"Now we can play!" Maltrina chirped and clapped her hands together.

Axel, Roxas, and Demyx looked at each other and then back to Maltrina.

"Wanna know what we'll play?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Hide-n-seek! I'll give you guys a ten-minute head start, though, cuz this place is huge. Oh, we'll be needing rules. Hmm…no going into my room or any other locked rooms. Also, no using your powers or weapons, but it's not like it'll matter since you won't be able to summon them here." She stepped back and held her arms out.

Axel took an instinctive step in front of his friends.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to kill them, genius. What fun is the game if you guys are dead?" With that, Maltrina opened up a portal of darkness below them. "Have fun," she chirped before waving.

Through the darkness, Roxas' hands blindly shot out for Axel and Demyx but it was too late; his fingers only wrapped around nothingness.

He opened his eyes. Roxas blinked and looked around. The hall he was in would have been pure white if it weren't for the two black figures lying sprawled out on the floor. Roxas jumped up and ran to them. "Axel," he shook Axel's arm.

"What?" Axel blinked and recalled what just happened. "Are you—"

"I'm fine." Roxas answered.

"What about Demyx?"

"Guhh…I'm fine." He shakily sat up; not traveling via darkness in a while was affecting his stomach again like when he first joined the Organization. "You guys all right?"

"Yah," the other two nodded.

"We should—"

"Okay, boys, I'm going to start counting now. Remember the rules!" Maltrina chirped from somewhere.

The three jumped up, thinking she was right next to them, but to then realize she was using a magic of some sort to project her voice throughout the whole property. "C'mon, we should probably start moving," Roxas said, looking to his left and right. "Which way?"

"Left," Axel pointed left.

"Right," Demyx pointed right.

"Right," Axel pointed right.

"Left," Demyx pointed left.

"Uhh…" Roxas didn't know which way. "Er…Right?"

"It doesn't' matter, we just need to find an exit." Demyx said with a shrug.

"All right, let's go. We'll start running if we hear footsteps and only then, sound right?" Axel suggested as they headed to the right.

"Yah," Roxas and Demyx nodded.

After that, there was little talking; they were all too busy straining their ears incase Maltrina decided to change her mind again. This…is degrading. Axel thought, we're like mice. His muscles tensed when a small sound reached his ears. "Wait!" He hissed, sticking his arms out to let Roxas and Demyx know to stay still. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Roxas whispered back.

It was a tiny, barely audible tapping.

"What do you think it is?" Demyx asked, turning around incase it was behind them.

Axel could see something coming around the corner. He squinted. "Oh, false alarm, it's a mouse." He sensed the relief wash over Roxas and Demyx. The little mouse saw them and turned around, running around the corner. "All—"

"Oooh, guess what, boys?"

All three nearly jumped out of their skin. Their heads spun everywhere but Maltrina was out of sight.

"Just making sure you aren't cheating! You have about eight minutes left now, TTFN." If they could see her, they would have seen Maltrina wave good-bye before carrying on with her business.

"….Her attitude reminds me of Kiza." Demyx stated bluntly.

"Uch…" Roxas shuddered. "Let's just keep walking and try to find a way out."

Axel smiled weakly, "If that's possible."

They walked around the corner.

"Wow." They all stopped. The three stared down a very wide wing with two doors to the left and two doors to the right, each twenty meters apart from the other and in the middle of the wall that faced them was another door. "How big is this place?" Roxas demanded.

"Really big," Axel replied, "Let's see what's behind those doors." He walked over to one and turned the knob. "Locked. Roxas, think you could summon your Keyblades?"

"We can't summon our weapons, remember?"

Axel swore and muttered as he ran a hand through the red forest of hair.

"Oh, wait," Demyx lifted up his right foot and leaned against the wall. "We might be lucky! If there is one thing I remember," he removed his shoe. "Always wear black socks."

"….What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Axel asked.

"I think whoever took us wanted us all in black," he removed the black sock. "Aha!" Something had fallen out. "Perfect." It was a hairpin.

"And you said his lock picking skills would never be useful." Roxas said to Axel.

"…Only because he kept doing that while I was taking a shower!" Axel couldn't help but half-snap.

Demyx said with a shrug, "Not my fault you take them at night, me and Roxas enjoy good dental hygiene." He crouched down in front of the lock, "We're just lucky they didn't change our socks." He slipped the pin into the lock.

"I guess…" Roxas kept a weary eye on the other doors.

Ten seconds later…

"Got it!" Demyx cheered after they heard a click. He looked up at Axel, who nodded. Demyx turned the knob and opened the door.

They stepped back. When nothing jumped out, they peered into the dark room. They could make out shapes of things on many, many shelves. "Is there a light switch?" Axel asked, taking a step in.

"Found it," Roxas announced and flipped the switch.

"Whoa," Demyx's eyes widened. On those many, many shelves were many, many dolls. "I never saw her as the collector type."

"Do you think she made these?" Axel picked up one with blonde hair and blue eyes that was dressed in all black. "Hey, Roxas, I think I found your older brother," he held up the doll.

"Wait a second, I—Sora knows that guy. He's Cloud." Roxas looked at the other dolls. "That one's Aeris…that's Tifa, and there's Leon." His eyes widened. "These are people Sora knew! Wait, I don't know about these two, though." He picked up two dolls. One was bald with sunglasses, reminding all three of The Matrix and the other had an un-tucked shirt with vibrant red hair on his head. "Wow, this guy has hair as bright as yours," Roxas joked to Axel, "I think I found your lost brother, Axel."

"Whoever made these is really good." Demyx said, setting down a doll with long, silvery-gray hair. "Except for those three; they look more like actual dolls." He picked up the angry, red-eyed one.

Roxas looked over Demyx's shoulder. "Actually, that's how they really look like. They're about that size too."

Demyx was about to reply but Axel interrupted. "Uh…guys?"

"What?"

"Look." Axel held up three very familiar looking dolls.

"All right," Demyx looked down at the much smaller Demyx, "I'm officially creeped out. Let's get outta here. We've wasted enough time."

"Four minutes, boys," sang Maltrina.

"You're right," Axel put the dolls back where he had found them. "Let's go."

The three Nobodies darted out of the room. Roxas purposely left the door open very slightly as Demyx started on the door across from the one they had just left. "Got it," Demyx announced and opened the door. Again, nothing jumped out, so they walked in. The room seemed to have an automatic lighting system and was a lab of some sort.

"It doesn't look like there's an exit." Roxas stated. "Wait," he looked to his right, "I think this room has two doors." He took a few more steps inside and could see a knob about twenty meters away. "Yah…"

"All right, so we know not to pick that lock and to expect something different." Axel headed out. "C'mon, maybe a different room will lead to an exit." There were no windows in this lab and the closest thing that would have offered a hiding spot was behind a large, glass tube filled with a blue liquid.

"All right," Roxas said with a shrug and exited the room. "We should probably hur—

"Two minutes, boys!" Maltrina chirped.

"Got it," Axel began to quickly walk to the next door they had not opened, still going by his no running rule.

By the time they reached the next door, Maltrina had announced they had forty-five seconds left. Demyx hurriedly picked the lock as Roxas and Axel kept watch. "We're in," he announced.

"Twenty-three…twenty-two…"

"All right, let's see what's in here," Axel said as Demyx opened the door. The three darted in and closed the door and locked it again. "All right, we'll probably be fine in here since this was originally a locked door." He shut the door and locked it. "The rest are unlocked, she should be distracted with those," he added.

"I hope." Roxas said. "Hey, what's that light?" He pointed to a faint glow coming from a corner.

"I don't know," Axel took a step forward, "Let's go see."

I have a bad feeling about this…Demyx thought as they began to walk. "Gah!" He tripped over a thick cord and landed on Axel and Roxas.

"Ow!"

"Sorry!" Demyx got up. "Are you guys all right?"

"Yah," Roxas helped Axel up.

"I'm fine," Axel dusted himself off, "You?"

"Uh-huh," Demyx nodded.

He relaxed slightly. "Good—"

"Boys?"

All three froze.

They could see a pair of feet black out some of the crack of light that leaked through the door. The knob clattered. "Oh…you aren't in here? Of course! Silly me it's lock—Ooooh…I think somebody forgot to close a door…" Maltrina walked off, causing the three to sigh with relief.

"That was close," Roxas breathed.

"A little too close for my liking," Demyx agreed.

"C'mon," Axel grabbed both of the blonde's by their shoulders, "Let's go see what the light is." He nodded to the light. "Maybe it's a window or something."

"Doubt it," Demyx said.

"That's right, Roxas, keep the optimistic level as high as Demyx's." Axel whispered back sarcastically.

"I'll do my best," Roxas said with a smile. "It'll be ha—" He stopped.

So did Demyx and Axel.

Roxas took a sharp intake of breath and almost stumbled backwards. "I-It's like my dream!" He stared at the pale forms of Sora, Kairi, and Riku.

All there were in their own thrones of steel; Sora in the middle with Riku to his left and Kairi to the right. They were not in black but, instead, the clothes Roxas had last seen them in, only they looked dusty. Along with dust decorating the trio, wires were stuck into their arms and legs, their eyes were shut in an unpeaceful sleep. An unfriendly carpet of cords and wires swam around the three like a mote of plastic and metal.

Kairi's left hand twitched. Her jaw clenched. "Nnn…"

"Kairi?" Roxas jumped over cords and almost tripped as he stood before her.

Axel made a move to stop him but, instead, almost fell over. He then ran after Roxas. "Huh?" Pallid lids opened and revealed a pair of unfocused eyes. "Sora…?"

Roxas shook his head. "No, Roxas. What happened?"

Kairi gasped sharply and her eyes widened to the point where it looked like her skin might tear. "Go…now! She's here! She'll get you! You have to go now!" Kairi was yelling at the top of her lungs and began to shake. "There," she managed to jerk head to a giant computer. "Type up "Princess Seven" and then the keys alt and F-4! Now! It's the only way out!"

"Kairi! What are you talking abou—"

"Now!" Her eyelids and body suddenly dropped and she was back to a painful sleep.

"What the…?" Roxas looked up at Axel and Demyx.

"I honestly don't know," Axel shrugged. "But trying whatever she suggested sounds good now. I think Maltrina knows—"

"Tsk, tsk!" They could hear her through the door.

Demyx darted to the computer, which was where the light was coming from and began to peck at the keyboard. "Alt and F-4, right?"

"Yah," Axel nodded; his eyes on the corner.

"Got—Crap!"

"What?" Both Axel and Roxas looked up.

"The window disappeared!"

They heard the door open.

"So will we," hissed Axel. He grabbed Roxas and Demyx's wrists and ducked behind the large cylinder that was connected to all three seats.

Crouched behind the seats, they hoped Maltrina wouldn't see them. "You broke the rules," she said to the three even if she couldn't see them, "Now anything goes."

Roxas' fear-filled eyes fell onto a pile of cords. He nudged Axel and Demyx in the arms and gestured to the chords. It took them half a second to realize what he was thinking about. They smirked and nodded. Roxas silently inched towards the cords. The moment he touched them, an ear-piercing shriek shattered the dusty silence. "You boys touched my computer!?"

The shriek caused all three to jump into standing positions. "Now," mouthed Axel; Maltrina's back was to them. Roxas nodded and took a few steps towards her and threw the cords at her.

"What the—?" The cords were rather heavy and had thrown her off balance.

Taking advantage of this, Roxas pushed her forward. "Run!"

Demyx and Axel ran to the door. Axel let Roxas run ahead of him before shutting the door, not holding back the heat of his anger. As they tore down the wing, Maltrina yelped, and Axel smirked; having your element fuse with normal things, such as body temperature, had its perks. "Good going with the cords, Roxas." Axel said, as they passed the doll room; its door was wide open.

"Thanks," they turned the corner and sprinted down the hall.

"What you did, Axel, that was cool, too." Demyx said.

"Thanks," Axel replied. "Wait, how'd—"

"Your element is fire." He said with a smile. "You heated the door knob up, right?"

"Yah—Oof! What was—"

Splintering wood reached their ears.

Roxas had stopped in front of a door. "Demyx, pick the lock to this door. Now."

Demyx removed the pin from his sleeve. "Uh sure…why this one?" His hands were shaking as he picked the lock.

Axel looked at it. "It says "F-4"," he replied, eyebrows high.

Demyx swore and went back to the lock. "I hate emotions right now."

"Might want to hurry…" Roxas urged as the pounding sound of footsteps bounced off the giant halls.

_Click._

"Yes!" Demyx twisted the knob and jumped in. He shut the door as soon as Axel and Roxas were in the room.

"Wow, the one time you finally decide to be observant it saves us. You should try it more often." Axel clapped Roxas' shoulders. "We have an exit!" In the dimly lit room, they could see a rippling door to darkness.

"Are you sure we can trust it?" Demyx asked.

"Of course; Kairi suggested it. She's the one with the purest heart." Roxas answered. "C'mon."

"All right…" Demyx walked up to it. He reached out, ready to stick in his hand when the door was thrown open.

"It's unlocked," she smiled, "No broken rules."

"Go!" Axel pushed Roxas into Demyx, "Now!"

"Wait—" Demyx grabbed onto Roxas' wrist. "Y—"

"Now! Take Ro—Ahh!"

"Nobody is going anywhere." Maltrina hissed, twisting Axel's arm and applying her iron-grip.

"Well," Axel said through gritted teeth, "They are Nobod—_Grach_!"

"Don't' be smart with me!" She dug her nails into his arm. "Take another step foreword and it's a broken bone for him," both of Axel's arms were twisted behind his back now.

"Both of you go!" Axel yelled. "Now!" He did his best to keep the pain out of his face and voice but it wasn't working too well.

Demyx looked torn between jumping through and saving himself and Roxas or staying and saving Axel. He weakly tugged at Roxas' arm, "Roxas."

Roxas made a move to wrench his arm out of Demyx's grip but Axel's pain and anger filled eyes made him freeze. "Roxas, Demyx, take care of each other." He then added: "I'll see you guys again," Roxas allowed himself to be dragged into the darkness. "Got it memorized?"

The last thing they saw before darkness took over was Axel's worried face. After darkness surrounded Roxas and Demyx, the last thing they heard was his pain filled yell.

The sweet and minty smell wrapped around him. Good…it was all a nightmare…Demyx thought. When I open my eyes, I'm going to see Roxas ready to dump water on me for borrowing his headphones without asking him.

"He's moving!"

Demyx's eyes snapped open; since when did a girl move in with them? He gasped at a pair of amber eyes. "Ah!" He cringed; his left side was very sore.

"Is he alive?" Asked a bored voice.

"Yah," nodded the girl with amber eyes. "Aeris how's the other one?"

Other? "Roxas?" He bolted up into a sitting position ignoring his sore side. Demyx felt cold. He looked down. Where's my shirt?

"Is that his name?" A woman in a pink and white dress walked up. "He's fine, I just cast cure on him. He'll be sore but fine." She noticed Demyx was looking around.

"Oh, your clothes were really torn up. Don't worry," the amber-eyed woman winked, "you still have the bubbles."

Demyx's cheeks turned red once he realized she was referring to his boxers. He yanked the blankets up to cover his bare chest. The two girls giggled.

"That's a way to greet a guy," the bored voice spoke up again. He walked into view with arms folded across his chest. "You all right?" It didn't sound like he cared.

"Yah…" He reached up to his sitar charm, it was still there. A weak groan floated to the other side of the room. "Roxas?"

"Demyx…?" Roxas looked pale. He moved a little and opened his eyes but then closed them again. The amber-eyed woman rushed over to check on him but then quickly returned and shook her head and said something about sleeping.

Leon looked at Demyx. "Is that Sora's brother?"

"Leon, let them wake up," the woman that cured Roxas, Aeris, looked down at Demyx and smiled sweetly. "Is he Sora's brother?"

"I don't remember him mentioning one," the man named Leon added.

"No…" Demyx answered, "But we are related," he added. At least Roxas is. He looked around the room he was in. It was small and had small windows. There was a bed in the corner opposite of Demyx and that was where Roxas laid. "Can I…uh…"

"We've sent Yuffie to get you boys some clothes," said Tifa.

"So your name's Demyx?" Asked Leon.

He gave Leon a slow nod.

"I'm Leon," he gestured to the woman with amber eyes, "Tifa," he gestured to the other woman. "Aeris."

Yah, that's nice. Can I go see Roxas now? He thought but then remembered he only had his boxers on, so getting up to check on Roxas would be a little embarrassing. Instead, Demyx merely nodded. "How long was I out?"

"A few hours," Tifa answered. "Well, when you arrived. Rude found you two and brought you to us. He doesn't know how long you and your friend had been laying out in the middle of nowhere."

"Rude..?" Demyx asked before he could stop himself.

"Yes," Aeris nodded, "He's a friend of ours."

"IIII'MM BAAACK!!" An overly cheery voice sang.

"That's Yuffie with your boys' new clothes," Tifa said just as a girl with short black hair hopped in.

"Oh, hey, one of'm's awake!" The girl named Yuffie walked over to Demyx. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Uh…"

"Give him some air," Leon said and gently pulled Yuffie back. He noticed the number of bags she held; only three. This was not much for Yuffie. Leon was about to open his mouth and ask but an angry yell cut him off.

"Damn it! Who the hell left all these bags on the floor?!" It was coming from another room.

"Oh, sorry, Cid!" Yuffie called out, smiling. "Didn't know you were back!"

Cid's response was inarticulate grumbling.

"Yuffie…how much did you buy for them?" Leon had a feeling he'd regret asking.

"These bags," she held up the three bags. "The other four are for me. Oh, wait, one of'm is for all of you guys." She set the bags down onto the floor and reached in. "For you," she looked at Demyx, "I got a more exciting version of what we found you in," she threw him some black garments. "And him," she looked to see Roxas was now sitting up. "Oh, hey! Sora-clone is awake!" She pulled out an exact duplicate of the clothes he arrived in (his "Twilight Town threads" as Demyx liked to call them).

"What?" Roxas looked up. "Where are we, Demyx?" His eyes darted around the room in an alarmed dance.

"Radiant Garden," Tifa answered. "Feeling better?"

Roxas wondered if Demyx noticed this amber-eyed woman, Tifa, looked eerily similar to the doll they had found in Maltrina's giant property. "Oh." He felt cold suddenly and looked down. "Ah!" It was then he realized all he had on was boxers. He yanked the blankets up.

Yuffie giggled and threw Roxas his new clothes. "I think you guys can change on your own." She looked at Leon. "Did you introduce yourselves yet?"

"Only to him," Leon nodded to Demyx. He tuned to Roxas. "Roxas, right?"

Roxas nodded.

"I'm Leon, that's Tifa, Aeris, and, as you heard, Yuffie. I'm pretty sure you heard Cid." He headed for the door. "We'll be in the other room." He walked out.

"See you in a few minutes." Aeris said before walking out.

Tifa just smiled and followed Aeris.

"Buh-bye for now!" Yuffie ran out the room, shutting it behind her.

Demyx blinked. "O…kay…" He said slowly. "Sora knows those people, right?"

"Yah…" Roxas nodded and got out of the bed. "Those people look familiar?"

"The dolls. You don't think this is another illusion, do you?"

Roxas thought for a moment. "Only one way to find out." He held his hands out. With a sparkle of magic, the Keyblades appeared. He smiled. "Nope; no illusion." Roxas dismissed the blades and grabbed the pair of pants Yuffie had thrown at him. He noticed the doubt on Demyx's face. "If this was some computer illusion, it wouldn't have sparkled like that."

"Oh, all right. That's good, I guess." Demyx grabbed the pants he had been thrown. "They seem like nice people."

"They a—"

"TIFA! Give it back!!" It sounded like Tifa took something from Yuffie, "You can be such a—"

"Uhh…" Roxas had paused in putting his shirt on.

Demyx chucked and grabbed his black shirt when something blue fell out.

"What's this?" Demyx picked it up. "…She honestly doesn't expect me to wear this, does she?"

"Huh?" Roxas had just zipped up the last of his shirts.

Demyx held up a blue tank top that was clearly meant for girls. He was about to comment when the door burst open. "I am so sorry!" Yuffie had her left hand over her eyes. "I knew it'd be here! I think the lady at the store accidentally put that in there," she held out her other hand. "So can I have it back?"

Demyx was relieved that it wasn't meant for him. "Sure…"

"Thanks!" Yuffie chirped and darted out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Demyx blinked and shook his head. He picked the shirt up and looked at it. "I'm missing a sleeve," he said and slipped it on. His right arm was covered to the finger tips but his left arm was completely bare. Wow…so exciting. his thoughts dripped with sarcasm. "Did this thing come with a belt?" He tugged at the pants a bit; they were a tad big on him.

"She said the three bags were for us." Roxas walked over to one and rummaged through it. "I think this one's for you." He pulled out a silver belt with a black buckle. It was a little too big for Roxas. Demyx took the belt, as he put the belt on, he sniffed the air. "Something smells good."

"Let's go see," Roxas headed for the door and walked into what looked like a living room that had many bags on the ground.

"I hope you boys like tempura!" Yuffie called out from the kitchen. "Oh, and udon and gyoza's cool, too, right?"

Roxas was a little surprised by the kindness. First clothes and now food? "Uh…sure." He replied. He looked up at Demyx.

"I'm all right with that," Demyx said with a shrug.

"Cool!" Yuffie replied happily.

"While Yuffie's cooking," began Aeris, "We could show you around the neighborhood if you want."

"That'd be nice," said Roxas, not knowing what else to say.

Aeris was about to say something else but there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it," Aeris chirped and opened the door. "Oh, hello, Rude."

A tall, bald man stood outside. "Hi," he gave her a curt nod.

"Demyx, Roxas, this is Rude," she stepped aside to let Rude in, which he did not do. "He's the one that brought you to us."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Demyx said, not knowing what else to say; another person they had seen as a doll towered over them. The intimidating sense coming from this man didn't help much either.

"Yah," Roxas bowed his head, "Thank you for, er, saving us."

"…You're welcome." Rude replied bluntly. He returned his attention to Aeris. "Have you seen Reno?"

"No…why?" Aeris cocked her head to the side.

"I haven't seen him all day."

"Oh. Yuffie," Aeris turned to the kitchen.

"Yah?" Yuffie leaned back so she could see who was at the door. "Oh, hey, Rude!"

"While you were shopping, did you see Reno?"

"Nope," the ninja shook her head. "Sorry!" Yuffie's attention returned to her cooking.

"Anybody else?" Aeris called out.

"Nope," Cid continued down the hall with a laundry basket.

"No," Leon went back to his letter.

Tifa appeared next to Aeris, "Sorry." She shook her head.

Rude frowned. "Thanks," he bowed his head and walked off.

Aeris, too, frowned as she shut the door. "Weird, Reno and Rude are almost always together." Her attention snapped back to Roxas and Demyx. "I'm sorry, but I think we'll have to give you a tour after dinner." She quickly bowed her head apologetically and dashed off somewhere.

"That's all right," Roxas said as she walked of.

"Actually," Yuffie leaned back again, "That's a great idea! We can get ice-cream!"

That idea seemed to have put some cheer into Roxas. "That'd be all right, too." He said and looked around the room hoping to find a seat for him and Demyx. Spotting another couch that was in the corner and not occupied, he and Demyx headed for it. "Demyx?" Roxas had just realized that Demyx looked pale. "Are you all right?"

"Huh?"

Roxas made him sit. "You look really pale." His eyebrows knitted together. "What is it?"

Demyx cringed; a sudden headache caused his jaw to clench. "It's this world…" he looked up at Roxas. "I think," he began, "I—"

"Hey," Tifa walked over to Demyx, "Are you all right?"

"Uh…yah, I will be."

She frowned. "I'll get you a glass of water." She headed to the kitchen.

Roxas looked back at Demyx.

Demyx gave Roxas a very slight shake of the head and mouthed "later."

Roxas gave him a slight nod before making it look like he was stretching his neck. He sighed, not doing a good job at keeping the sadness out. "You're looking for somebody, aren't you?" Tifa had returned with the glass of water. "Here."

"Huh? Oh, thanks." Demyx took the glass.

"So, who are you looking for?" She asked.

Roxas and Demyx exchanged glances. "…Somebody very close." Roxas finally answered. He was about to say something else but he realized something was missing. "My wallet!"

Demyx's eyes widened. He turned to Tifa. "Did you—"

"Oh, that?" Tifa turned to Leon, "What'd you do with their stuff?"

Leon looked up from his letter. "It's in my room," he sounded annoyed. Standing up, Leon left for his room.

"Hey," Roxas began before Tifa could speak, "Aren't you looking for somebody, too?"

Tifa seemed a little surprised by this question. "Yes…how do you know this?"

Roxas realized his mistake. "Er, well…Sora kind of told me." This was obviously a lie. "When he got back home, he told us all about his adventures and all the people he met." It sounded like a Sora-thing to Roxas.

Tifa nodded. "He probably would tell his friends those things."

"Here," Leon returned, holding a few of Roxas and Demyx's things.

"Thanks," Roxas took his things. "Oh, still want this?" He held up Demyx's hairpin.

"Sure," Demyx took the pin and slipped it onto his sleeve. He noticed Tifa had cocked an eyebrow at it. "Lucky pin," Demyx carelessly shrugged. The remark satisfied her.

"Do you have a picture of the person you're looking for?" Questioned Tifa.

"Yah…" Roxas replied slowly.

"Can we see it?"

"Sure," Roxas kept the sigh out of his voice and carefully opened the wallet and pulled out a picture of Axel sitting on the couch; unaware of Demyx sneaking up on him with a bucket of water.

Tifa looked at the picture of for a few seconds. "We haven't seen him anywhere, I'm sorry."

Roxas kept any sign of emotion off his face. Oh c'mon, he scolded himself, you weren't really expecting her to say "Oh, him? He's sleeping in Leon's room" did you?

Demyx had finished his water. "That's all right," he, too, managed to keep emotion out of his voice.

"What's his name?"

"Axel," replied both Roxas and Demyx at the same time.

She nodded and then smiled. "We can look for him too while we look for Reno."

"Thanks," said Roxas.

III

**End of Chapter Four**

III


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